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S. H. Taqizadeh

LOCUST'S

LEG

Studies in honour of
S. H. TAQIZADEH

LONDON

PERCY LUND, HUMPHRIES & CO. LTD

1962

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CONTENTS

PKUW

h' f

Made and Printed in Great Britain
by Percy Lund, Humphries & Co. Ltd, London and Bradford

Frontispiece: S. H. Taqizadeh

Preface vii

S.M.A.Djamalzadeh Taqizadeh, tel que je 1'ai connu 1

A brief bibliography , 19

/. Afshar Saif-al-din Bakharzi 21

A. J. Arberry A royal poem 28
H. W. Bailey The preface to the Siddhasara-Sastra 31
E. Benveniste Coutumes funeraires de l'Arachosie

ancienne 39

Mary Boyce On Mithra in the Manichaean pantheon 44

W. Eilers Die altiranische Vorform des Vdspuhr 55

T. Gandjei Note on an unknown poem of Haidar

in Uighur characters (plates I— III) 64

B. Geiger Indo-Iranian ru-, lu-, "to' pluck" 70

/. Gershevitch Outdoor terms in Iranian 76

R. Ghirshnan La civilisation achemenide et 1' Urartu 85

W. B. Henning Persian poetical manuscripts from the

time of Riidaki (plates IV-V) 89

W. Hinz Die elamischen Inschriften des Hanne

(plate VI) 105

E. S. Kennedy A medieval interpolation scheme using

second order differences 117

The merchant in medieval Islam 121

Yima and Khvarenah in the Avestan

Gathas 131

A. K. S. Lambton
W. Lentz

R. Levy

Kanz al-qaflyah [or al-qazvafi] by 'All
Tzz al-Din Bahrami-yi Sarakhsi

135

CONTENTS

Hildegard Lewy

D. N. MacKenzie
H. Masse

L. Massignon

J. de Menasce
V. Minorsky
M. Mo'in
G. Morgenstierne

O. Neugebauer
G. Redard
F. Rosenthal
B. Spider

E. Yarshater

'A. Zaryab (Khoi)

Points of comparison between Zoro-

astrianism and the moon-cult of Harran 139

A Kurdish creed 162

h'Ants ol-aqilln de Mir Qari Gilani 171
Nouvelles recherches sur Salman Pak

(plate VII) 178

Reflexions sur Zurvan 182

Ibn Farighun and the Hudild al-'Alam 189

Huraxs 197

Feminine nouns in -a in Western

Iranian dialects 203

"Years" in royal canons 209

Le palmier a Khur (plates VIII-XV) 213

The prophecies of Baba the Harranian 220

Der deutsche Beitrag zur Iranforschung 233

The Tati dialects of Ramand 240

Ein wiederaufgefundenes Werk Abu

Hayyan at-Tauhidls 246

PREFACE

These pages are dedicated to S. H. Taqizadeh by scholars of many
countries in token of their appreciation of his great services to learning.
The history of classical Persian literature and the chronology of Iran
and the countries surrounding her have been the chief beneficiaries
of his scholarship, which is distinguished by intuition, knowledge,
and precision. The weight of his scholarly work hardly lets one
suspect that it is the fruit of mere hours of leisure; and that through-
out his life matters of state and government have been his pre-
occupation.

Few scholars of his eminence can compare with S. H. Taqizadeh
in their claims upon the gratitude of their fellows. No one who asked
for his counsel and help in a matter of scholarship ever left his door
unaided. There are many who went to his country in the pursuit of
learning and were enabled by his generous assistance alone to conduct
their researches. Numerous learned enterprises owe their foundation
to his energy and devotion; the Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum is
one of them.

Some time has elapsed since S. H. Taqizadeh observed his
eightieth birthday; he was born on 29 Ramadan 1295 = 27 Septem-
ber 1878. It is a pity that the best date for presenting a Festschrift to
him has thus been allowed to pass unused; yet we would rather make
amends for that omission now, than wait for his ninetieth birthday.
The contributors to this volume, and numerous other scholars
besides, fervently hope that he will celebrate that anniversary, and
many thereafter, in good health and enjoy for long the universal
admiration of the learned that is his due.

The Editors

W. B. HENNING
E. YARSHATER

, d£L i_5Cij ^1 i c^>- J-j ftrJj-S; Li'

"II me faut une bouche, large comme le ciel,
pour chanter ta louange, 6 toi, objet d'envie
de 1'Angel" {Maulavi)

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L'AI CONNU

Par S. MOHAMMAD ALI DJAMALZADEH

Je considere comme un devoir sacre, cher a mon cceur et a. mon
esprit, de rendre ici pieusement hommage a mon grand et venere
maitre et ami, Seyyed Hassan Taqizadeh, a cette occasion. Depuis
quarante-cinq ans que j'ai l'honneur insigne et l'inappreciable
privilege de compter parmi ses devoues et fideles amis, l'estime
profonde et 1' admiration sincere que je professe pour sa haute
personnalite n'ont fait que s'accroitre.

Mise a part la grandiose figure de notre grand Roi, Reza Chan
Pahlavi, qui est incontestablement hors de pair et ne rentre point
dans le cadre des comparaisons presentes, Taqizadeh, a cote du prince
Kadjar Abbas Mirza, ainsi que de Mirza Taghi Khan Amir-Kabir,
Seyyed Djamal-ed-dine dit Afghani et Seyyed Abdullah Behbahani,
sans aucun doute, est une des figures les plus marquantes et des
personnalites les plus dignes d'interet et d'admiration, dans l'histoire
de la Perse, pendant les dernieres decades du 19me siecle et la
premiere moitie du 20me. 1

II serait vain de tenter, dans le cadre restreint qui nous est
reserve ici, de parler, ne fut-ce que simplement enumerer, les faits
saillants de cette longue vie exceptionnellement riche en evenements,
pour la plupart historiques et intimement lies a l'histoire meme de
la Perse en general, et a sa revolution, d'une facon toute speciale,
vie consacree entierement, des la toute premiere jeunesse, au service
exclusif de la connaissance (sciences, lettres, histoire, etc.) aussi bien
que de la liberte et de la patrie. Ceux qui desireraient faire plus
ample connaissance avec ce grand personnage que beaucoup de ses

^e grand savant Mirza Mohammad Qazvini, ainsi que l'orateur con-
stitutionnaliste Seyyed Djamal-ed-dine, dit Isphahani, meritent assurement
aussi, chacun dans son propre domaine, d'avoir leur place dans l'histoire
moderne de leur pays.

2 A LOCUST S LEG

compatriotes, et meme des etrangers, considerent deja, de son vivant,
comme l'Abou Reyhane Birouni de notre epoque, feraient bien de
consulter les nombreuses biographies consacrees a sa vie et a son
oeuvre. 1

En ce qui me concerne, je dis d'emblee que Taqizadeh a ete la
supreme decouverte morale, intellectuelle et humaine de ma vie. 2
J'ai acquis la certitude que c'est enrichir infiniment sa vie que d'ap-
prendre a connaitre de plus pres des etres d'une essence superieure.
Si, personnellement, je n'ai pas reussi a en profiter dans une plus
grande mesure, la faute n'en incombe qu'a moi seul.

Les manifestations de la personnalite de Taqizadeh sont d'ordre
multiple et vane. Ses facultes exceptionnelles et ses rares talents se
sont exerces, avec le meme bonheur, dans de nombreux domaines.
Patriote et revolutionnaire, avant tout, ayant toujours et de toutes
ses forces lutte pour l'independance, la liberte et le bonheur de son
pays et de ses compatriotes, Taqizadeh est, en meme temps, un grand
homme d'Etat, diplomate avise, verse dans les sciences islamiques,
historien de renom mondial, ecrivain eminent, penseur de haute
valeur, et egalement journaliste de tres grand talent. Et c'est precise-
ment sur le terrain du journalisme que debuterent les rapports de
celui qui ecrit ces lignes avec lui. Ces relations ne cesserent de se
developper au cours des annees, devenant constamment plus cordiales
de sa part et, de plus en plus empreintes d'un devouement pieux
et d'une veneration filiale de mon cote.

Quarante-cinq annees de relations suivies et non interrompues
n'ont fait que confirmer et justifier chaque jour davantage, en moi,
la conviction que mon maitre et ami, Seyyed Hassan Taqizadeh, est
{'illustration vivante d'un grand nombre de vertus humaines. Avec
l'age les branches de nos interets spirituels se sont, de plus en plus,
entremelees, comme de vieux arbres fideles. J'ai eu maintes occasions
de le connaitre sous plusieurs de ses aspects: tous ont ete dignes

1 I1 y a lieu de mentionner tout specialement "1'Histoire de la vie de Taqi-
zadeh" par Mehdi Modjtahedi (Teheran, 1322 h.s.) et l'article remarquable
du Professeur Rezazadeh Chafagh, intitule "Taqizadeh et la Constitution",
publie dans la revue "Yaghma" paraissant a Teheran (12me annee, n° 139,
Bahman 1338 h.s.), ainsi que "1'Histoire de la revolution persane" (en anglais
et en traduction persane) du Professeur Ed. Browne.

z Je dois en dire autant de Mirza Mohammad Khan Qazvini. Le souvenir
pieux de ces deux personnes est si intimement lie en mon souvenir que rendre
hommage a 1'une d'elles est, en meme temps, rendre hommage a l'autre.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU 3

d'estime et d'admiration. Mais ici, dans les lignes qui suivent, je me
bornerai a m'occuper de Taqizadeh journaliste.

Dans le discours prononce a Teheran, le 16 septembre 1959,
a la fete preparee par le quotidien "Ettelaat" a l'occasion de son dix
millieme numero, Taqizadeh a dit lui-meme: "Parmi ceux de nos
compatriotes, ayant affaire avec la plume, je crois etre le plus age de
tous, et je dois ajouter que je ne suis pas etranger non plus au
journalisme. II y a, en effet, plus de soixante ans que j'ai un pied pose
sur le terrain politique et l'autre (dans les limites de mes faibles possi-
bilites) dans des activites litteraires et scientifiques. II y a aujourd'hui
cinquante ans (annees lunaires) qu'en collaboration avec quelques
amis, nous fondions, a Tauris, une revue persane, 1 de caractere
litteraire et scientifique qui, a partir de l'annee 1320 h.L, parut pendant
toute une annee regulierement et qui trouva un assez grand nombre
de lecteurs."

TAQIZADEH et le "KAVEH"
Le journal "Kaveh", d'apres le nom du heros national legendaire de
l'lran antique, fut fonde a Berlin, en Janvier 1916. Le premier
numero (24 Janvier 1916) commence avec ces vers de Ferdauci:

"Celui qui porte en son cceur Freydoun doit se liberer des chaines
de Zahhak."

Les fondateurs de "Kaveh" etaient Taqizadeh et Qazvini.
Lorsque, ayant termine ma mission en Iran, apres une absence de
seize mois, je retournai a Berlin, le premier numero de "Kaveh"
avait deja paru.

Dans Peditorial du premier numero, de la plume de Taqizadeh,
nous lisons: "La conduite pleine de bassesse de nos hommes d'Etat,
faite de faiblesse, de trahison, de peur et de vilenie, leur interdit toute
activite . . . et c'est pourquoi nous considerons comme notre devoir
de ne point demeurer inactifs et, ne fut-ce que de loin, de faire
entendre notre voix et de jeter des cris, dans 1'espoir de reveiller nos
compatriotes, de les stimuler dans leurs efforts patriotiques et de les

1 C'est aussi dans cette m&me revue, ayant pour titre "Gandjineye' Fonoun"
— Tresor des Arts et Connaissances — que parut le roman "Safineye ghaw-
wasseh", traduction faite par Taqizadeh d'apres Jules Verne du roman "Vingt
milles lieux sous les mers".

4 A LOCUST S LEG

conjurer de participer activement a la grande et sacree lutte
nationale."

L'editorial du premier numero de la troisieme annee (n° 25,
15 fevrier 1918) est concu en ces termes: "Ce journal a suivi, dans la
mesure du possible, la voie dans laquelle il avait choisi de s'engager.
Dans son essence, il a lutte pour la liberte et l'independance de Flran.
Meme dans l'adoption du style choisi pour la redaction des articles,
nous avons cherche a servir notre langue, et ceci, a l'heure meme ou
la langue persane traverse une serieuse crise, et ou, a notre tres vif
regret, on pourrait croire que tous nos soi-disant hommes de lettres
de Teheran se sont entendus pour corrompre deliberement notre
chere langue. En employant dans leurs ecrits une multitude de
termes, d'expressions et de tournures etrangers, empruntes au turc et
aux langues europeennes, n'ont-ils pas cree une langue artificielle,
incomprehensible? Cette facon d'agir ne signifie-t-elle pas la corrup-
tion du bon gout et la decadence manifeste de notre litterature?" On
voit ainsi que, durant toute son existence "Kaveh" n'a cesse de
servir, avant tout, la langue et la litterature persanes, objets de sa
constante sollicitude et qu'il les a considerees comme la garantie de
l'independance nationale de la Perse.

Le journal "Kaveh", qui a paru regulierement chaque mois, a
Berlin, pendant une longue periode de cinq annees, comprend deux
series distinctes. La premiere, composee de 35 numeros, s'etend sur
la periode allant du 24 Janvier 1916 au 15 aout 1919. Bien que le carac-
tere predominant du "Kaveh", durant cette periode, soit nettement
politique, pourtant, ainsi que le prouve la liste des principaux articles
et etudes y parus et annexes a la fin du present article, nombreux
sont les articles qui, meme dans cette premiere serie, sont d'ordre
purement historique ou litteraire. Nous ne citons ici, a titre
d'exemple, que la tres interessante serie d'articles au sujet du
"Regime parlementaire en Perse", etude richement documented, qui
donne egalement la liste complete des deputes des trois premieres
legislatures ainsi que celle des ministeres nombreux qui se sont
succedes au cours de cette longue periode. 1

La nouvelle serie de "Kaveh" commenca avec la fin de la
premiere guerre mondiale. Le premier numero de cette serie est date

1 Ces articles parurent plus tard, parmi les publications de "Kaveh", sous
forme de brochure.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU 5

du 22 Janvier 1920. Dans l'editorial de ce numero, toujours de la
plume de Taqizadeh, nous lisons: "Le nouveau 'Kaveh' change de
programme et devient, de fait, un tout nouveau journal. Les articles
et les etudes qu'il publiera desormais traiteront principalement des
sujets scientifiques, litteraires ou historiques. Le point essentiel de
son programme visera, avant tout, a la diffusion et a la propagation
de la civilisation europeenne en Perse, a la lutte contre le fanatisme,
a la defense de la nationality et a l'unite de cette nationality, a la
defense de notre langue et de notre litterature, et enfin, a promouvoir,
dans la mesure du possible, la liberte interieure et exterieure de
l'lran."

S'expliquant au sujet de celui des points de ce programme ayant
trait a l'adoption de la civilisation europeenne et a 1'importance que
revet ce point particulier, Taqizadeh ajoute: "Tout patriote persan
doit, a mon avis, consacrer toutes ses forces a la realisation d'un
programme comprenant les trois points ci-dessous dont on ne
saurait jamais exagerer 1'importance primordiale et urgente:

1° adoption et propagation de la civilisation europeenne, sans

aucune reserve ou condition; 1
2° adoption des us et coutumes, de la facon de vivre, des
methodes, des sciences, des arts, et, en un mot, de la vie et de
tout ce qui fait la civilisation europeenne, sans en rien exclure
ou excepter (sauf en ce qui a rapport a la langue);
3° repudiation de toute vaine presomption, de tout faux amour-
propre et de tout denigrement decoulant d'une conception
erronee du patriotisme, ou plutot du faux-patriotisme."
II est bien naturel que dans une societe comme la societe persane,
oil le cours millenaire du temps a transmute les traditions les plus
louables en des coquilles respectables, figees et souvent veneneuses,
toute attitude sentant le non-conformisme, dictee par une pensee
libre, hardiment exprimee, ne peut manquer de susciter l'opposition

1 Au cours d'une conference, sur "l'adoption de la civilisation ^trangere"
faite recemment a Teheran par Taqizadeh, ce dernier, signalant certains exces,
qui, dans ce domaine, se sont produits en Turquie, a declare: "Je dois avouer
que 1'opinion categorique et revolutionnaire que j'ai emise, sur le meme sujet,
il y a une quarantaine d'annees, dans le Kaveh et dans des articles subsequents,
comportait egalement quelques exces; d'autant plus que l'experience a montrS
que des changements introduits dans les traditions nationales provoquent
parfois, par voie de repercussion, des consequences facheuses" (voir le journal
"Ettelaat havai'" du 10 decembre 1960).

6 A LOCUST S LEG

et meme la malveillance d'une opinion publique ignorante et fana-
tique. Les articles de Taqizadeh n'echapperent pas a cette regie. Ici
et la, des voix s'eleverent contre lui et repondirent a sa these par
1'absurde. Mais nous savons que notre ami est, et il l'a toujours ete,
un roc contre lequel les vagues de la malveillance et de l'ignorantisme
finissent toujours par se briser. II n'est pas homme a se decourager
ni a se laisser intimider. Cet homme, d'une apparence si timide, est,
lorsque son ideal est en cause, capable des prodiges de hardiesse
intrepide. Son article editorial, paru dans le "Kaveh" (n° 7 de la
nouvelle serie, 17 juillet 1920), traduit son attitude a l'egard de ses
contradicteurs. II pousse l'intrepidite intellectuelle a l'extreme. Ne
dit-il pas (dans le meme numero 7), en repondant a ces contradicteurs
gonfles de presomption nationaliste: "La Perse n'a pas participe dans
une grande mesure a la science et au progres de l'humanite; elle est,
comme toutes les autres nations du monde, redevable a la civilisation
et aux sciences grecques."

Un peu plus tard, jugeant sage de calmer les esprits surexcites,
il n'hesita pas dans sa sagesse imperturbable, a donner encore quelques
nouvelles explications, au sujet de son programme. En effet, dans la
preface a son livre: "Preambule a l'instruction publique ou des
principes fondamentaux de la civilisation", 1 nous lisons: "Pour
dissiper tout malentendu, nous devons dire aussi nettement que
possible que notre opinion concernant la necessite de l'adoption de la
civilisation europeenne n'a point change depuis et demeure encore
absolument valable, telle qu'elle a ete formulee, il y a quelques
annees, dans le journal 'Kaveh', en des termes clairs, sans nulle
equivoque et meme avec une certaine rudesse et, aujourd'hui encore,
je n'hesite point a la repeter de nouveau, et a declarer que les Persans
doivent, sans la moindre reserve, apprehension ou hesitation, et d'une
facon tout-a-fait inconditionnee adopter la civilisation occidentale,
tant physiquement que spirituellement, aussi bien dans son fond que
dans sa forme, materiellement, moralement et intellectuellement.
Cependant, j'ajoute que cela ne doit pas nous empecher de conserver
une partie de nos traditions qui ne risquent pas de porter atteinte a
notre vie, nous nuire, ou meme qui ne nous nuisent que moderement,
pourvu qu'elles fassent reellement partie de notre patrimoine national;
d'autant plus que ces deux choses ne s'excluent nullement et ne

1 Paru en persan, en 1307 h.s.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU 7

contredisent point le principe selon lequel, lorsqu'il s'agit d'adopter
une civilisation, 1'attention doit se porter vers tout ce qui est
spirituel, bien plus que vers ce qui est materiel et physique."

II est interessant de noter que Taqizadeh, deja dans sa toute
premiere jeunesse et dans le premier ouvrage qu'il a publie, ouvrage
en persan intitule "Etude sur la situation presente de la Perse ou le
proces de l'histoire", 1 le jeune Taqizadeh s'efforce de prouver que si
la Perse cherche a eviter la decadence, elle doit adopter la civilisation
europeenne, et il conclut ainsi: "Toute nation qui se refuse a accepter
la civilisation de son epoque est condamnee a la decadence; elle
disparaitra et sera absorbee par les nations civilisees". Admettons
que la suite dans les idees est une des qualites maitresses de Taqizadeh.

Des que "Kaveh" entra dans la seconde periode de son existence,
c'est-a-dire a partir du mois de Janvier 1920, il devait se sufHre a
lui-meme, sans recevoir aucune contribution financiere ou subside
du dehors.

Au cours de cette periode qui prit fin le 30 mars 1922, vingt-
quatre numeros parurent et furent distribues regulierement, le
premier de chaque mois persan (hegire lunaire). Les ameliorations
appreciables, de fond et de forme, que Taqizadeh avait a coeur
d'apporter constamment a son bien-aime "Kaveh" comportaient des
sacrifices et privations multiples qui finirent par alterer serieusement
sa sante aussi bien que celle de ses collaborateurs. Le nombre de ces
derniers avait ete, entre temps, reduit au minimum possible. Qazvini
etait retourne a Paris, et presque tous les autres etaient partis egale-
ment. Leibnizstr. 64 (Berlin-Charlottenbourg) ou "Kaveh" avait ses
bureaux et sa redaction et qui servait, en meme temps, de logement a
Taqizadeh et de depot a nos publications, recevait de moins en moins
de visites. Je vois, et je verrai jusqu'a la fin de ma vie, Taqizadeh
amaigri, affaibli par la maladie et la fatigue, assis la, derriere son grand
bureau, en face de moi, la plume a la main et ecrivant et ecrivant a
n'en point finir.

Nous devions tout faire nous-memes. Ecrire les articles, corriger
jusqu'a six et sept fois les epreuves de l'imprimerie, tenir les livres,
effectuer les travaux de correspondance avec nos abonnes et nos
representants, et beaucoup d'autres menus travaux que comporte la
direction d'un journal, dans un pays etranger. Mais le jour ou le

1 Paru au Caire, lors du premier voyage de Taqizadeh, en Egypte.

8 A LOCUST S LEG

journal sortait enfin de 1'imprimerie, avec sa jolie couverture dont la
couleur changeait a chaque numero, toute notre fatigue se volatili-
sait, nos peines etaient oubliees. C'etait la grande fete! C'etait comme
si notre enfant bien-aime rentrait au logis apres une longue absence.

Alors, commencaient d'autres travaux. II fallait emballer, coller
les adresses et les ecrire, mettre les timbres et, les bras charges, porter
les paquets a la poste pour l'expedition. Une photographie prise
a cette epoque et qui est en ma possession, montre un Taqizadeh a
peine reconnaissable, tellement il y est amaigri et presque decharne.

Chaque numero, a quelques rares exceptions pres, commen9ait
avec un editorial de la plume de Taqizadeh lui-meme. Ces articles,
au nombre de 22, et portant toujours ou presque toujours le meme
titre: "Remarques et Observations" — en persan "Nokat wa mola-
hezat" — traitaient d'un ou de plusieurs problemes de caractere social
ou culturel, ayant directement trait aux conditions et modalites du
bonheur et du relevement physique et moral de nos compatriotes. lis
sont, sans aucun conteste, de veritables chefs-d'ceuvres, tant du point
de vue du style que de la pensee et de la presentation. Souhaitons
qu'ils soient reunis et publies sous forme de volume, pour le grand
profit de nos compatriotes et des innombrables admirateurs que
compte Taqizadeh, un peu partout a travers le monde. 1

Une autre serie d'articles de plus grande importance encore,
parus dans "Kaveh", de la plume de Taqizadeh, sont ceux ayant pour
titre general "Les plus celebres poetes de la Perse". Ces articles, au
nombre de huit, signes "Mohassel", commencent dans le n° 1 de la
premiere annee (22 Janvier 1920) et prennent fin dans le n° 12 de la
deuxieme annee (l er decembre 1921). lis sont le fruit de tres longues
recherches exhaustives, aussi minutieuses que subtiles et souvent
vraiment ingenieuses et qui, les travaux de Qazvini exceptes, sont, a
notre sens, en ce qui concerne la technique de la critique litteraire
selon les regies et les methodes les plus modernes, sans precedents
dans la litterature persane. Je suis, je crois, le seul au monde, a savoir
ce que la preparation de ces quelques articles a coute de peine et de
travail, et de nuits sans sommeil, a Taqizadeh! Ce fut aussi a l'occasion
de ce travail de longue haleine, et plus tard encore a maintes autres

1 La librairie "Telieran" avait entrepris la publication des articles de
Taqizadeh, parus dans les revues et journaux, des le de1>ut de la constitution,
mais malheureusement, apres la parution du premier volume, la suite n'a pu
Stre publiee.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU O

occasions, que j'ai pu comprendre que Taqizadeh reglait la conduite
de sa vie selon la maxime de notre premier Imam, Ali: "Pour tout ce
qui a rapport a la vie de ton ame, agis comme si tu etais sur le point de
mourir; et pour tout ce qui concerne les affaires de ce monde, comme
si tu devais vivre eternellement."

La veracite, la probite intellectuelles (ainsi que la veracite tout
court), le courage moral, la perspicacite, la tenacite, la perseverance
ainsi que la "Griindlichkeit", qui font le fond essentiel du caractere
de Taqizadeh, se refletent, dans tout leur eclat, dans ces articles.

Taqizadeh a un veritable culte pour la veracite. Dans une con-
ference qu'il a faite, ces derniers temps a Teheran, 1 n'a-t-il pas dit
lui-meme: "Je peux pretendre que mon amour pour la verite et la
repugnance que j'eprouve a faire intervenir les passions, les prejuges,
les idees preconcues ou les interets personnels dans mon travail, sont
pousses aussi loin que possible, jusqu'a la limite de ce qui est humaine-
ment realisable et imaginable."

L'un des numeros les plus importants de "Kaveh" est sans
doute le premier numero de la deuxieme annee (nouvelle serie), date
du 11 Janvier 1921. Dans ce numero, Taqizadeh enonce encore une
fois, sous une forme lapidaire et solennelle, la formule de son plan,
visant le relevement national. Pour accentuer encore davantage la
fermete de sa conviction et pour la mettre encore plus en relief, il
emploie exceptionnellement, pour formuler son plan, 1'ecriture
"Taaliq". Voici le texte de cette formule, en traduction francaise:

"La Perse doit s'europeaniser interieurement et exterieurement,
materiellement et spirituellement!"

C'est encore dans ce meme numero que Taqizadeh enumere les
17 points dont il fait dependre le bien-etre et le salut de son pays.
Selon l'ordre d'importance, ils sont:

1. Instruction publique;

2. Publication des livres utiles et traductions des livres occi-
dentaux;

3. Adoption sans reserve des us et coutumes de la civilisation
europeenne;

4. Sport, selon les methodes europeennes;

1 Trois conferences faites au "Club Mehregan" a Teheran, au sujet de
l"'Histoire des debuts de la revolution en Perse", en date des 29 Dey, 6 et
13 Bahman 1337 h.s. et parues, sous forme de livre portant le titre "Khatabeh",
dans la serie des publications du Club Mehregan, en 1338 h.s.

A LOCUST S LEG

5. Unite nationale;

6. Defense de la langue persane contre toute corruption possible;

7. Lutte sans merci contre l'opium et l'alcool;

8. Lutte contre tout fanatisme insense et reconnaissance de
1'egalite absolue des minorites;

9. Lutte contre les maladies endemiques;

10. Independance politique du pays;

11. Relevement du pays, selon la conception europeenne et
notamment son equipement industriel (machinisme);

12. Emancipation de la femme, comportant l'instruction et les
droits civils;

13. Lutte la plus energique contre le mensonge;

14. Lutte contre les jeux nocifs et ehontes des politiciens im-
provises, dans la vie interieure du pays;

15. Lutte contre les deviations sexuelles;

16. Lutte contre l'exageration et l'exces dans la plaisanterie et le
vain bavardage;

17. Resurrection de nos bonnes vieilles traditions.

A ces dix-sept points, Taqizadeh, toujours dans le meme
numero, ajoute cinq autres points, d'importance secondaire, relevant
de la politique interieure:

1. Sedentarisation des nomades et leur desarmement;

2. Lutte contre le banditisme;

3. Adoption du regime democratique (Liberte et egalite);

4. Relevement de la population agricole (instruction, machin-
isme, banque, cooperation agricoles, etc.);

5. Repression penale des crimes et delits, notamment en ce qui
concerne les fonctionnaires d'Etat.

Ainsi done, "Kaveh" fut, pour la Perse, non seulement une
ecole du journalisme, mais encore un facteur des plus efHcaces dans
la renaissance litteraire et culturelle du pays, et aussi un message
conviant, dans la plus pure intention patriotique, les Persans a la
civilisation et au bonheur.

Cependant, peu a peu, nos ressources s'epuiserent a tel point
que nous nous vimes forces, comme on dit chez nous, en Perse, de
recourir au "Kachkoul", 1 e'est-a-dire de demander a nos compatriotes

1 Recipient, generalement en ecorce de noix de coco, dont se servent les
derviches mendiants pour y mettre les recettes de leur mendicity.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU

de nous venir en aide. La demande a ete exposee, toujours de la plume
de Taqizadeh, dans le numero 7 (nouvelle serie) du 17 juillet 1920.
Voici en quels termes cette demande a ete formulee:

"Nous, les redacteurs de 'Kaveh', qui consacrons tout notre
temps a la propagation de la connaissance et de la verite (selon notre
propre conception) et luttons contre l'ignorance et le fanatisme . . .
sans aspirer aucunement a mener, en attendant, une vie large ou
aisee, nous nous adressons a ceux de nos compatriotes qui s'interessent
au savoir et aux amis de la connaissance, et leur demandons s'il se
trouverait parmi eux dix personnes de bonne volonte pretes a offrir a
'Kaveh', comptant, et immediatement, chacune une somme de 200
tomans, afin qu'une somme totale de 2.000 tomans puisse etre reunie
et constituer un fonds preliminaire qui, depose dans une banque,
permettra a notre journal de s'assurer une existence stable et inde-
pendante et aussi, a l'avenir, un bilan equilibre, grace a ses recettes
provenant des abonnements."

La demande n'obtint pas tout le resultat satisfaisant que nous
avions espere. A ce propos, je m'en voudrais de ne pas mentionner un
fait qui produisit sur moi une tres profonde impression, impression
dont je ressens aujourd'hui encore les effets inoubliables. Un jour
arriva de la Perse une lettre recommandee, contenant un cheque sur
une banque europeenne, pour une assez grosse somme, presque la
moitie de la somme que nous avions demandee. C'etait la un gros
succes, une aubaine inesperee. Elle assurait la publication future de
notre cher "Kaveh". La joie etait entree chez nous. Mais je vois le
visage de Taqizadeh s'assombrir de plus en plus en lisant la lettre qui
accompagnait le cheque. Finalement, s'adressant a moi, il dit: "Nous ne
pouvons pas accepter cet argent; il vient de l'Est de la Perse, d'un chef
feodal qui n'a pas merite de la patrie". Le cheque fut le jour meme
retourne a son expediteur et, dans le n° 6 du "Kaveh", 2me annee,
8 juin 1921, une note explicative, de la plume de Taqizadeh, repetait
la teneur de notre demande du 17 juillet de l'annee precedente, a
savoir que la demande en question avait ete adressee exclusivement et
explicitement aux seules personnes s'interessant a la connaissance et
a la culture, a l'exclusion "des 'Achrafs' — aristocratie — des ministres,
des gouverneurs, des politiciens et autres fonctionnaires d'Etat".

Enfin vint le jour ou le "Kaveh" dut suspendre sa parution.
Dans un numero special, date du 30 mars 1922, Taqizadeh annonca
officiellement la nouvelle et, s'adressant encore une fois a ses

A locust's LEG

compatriotes, leur donna ses ultimes conseils. II leur dit: "Le vrai
danger qui menace 1'Iran ne vient pas de l'exterieur et le remece ne
consiste point a eloigner les Europeans de notre pays et a accroitre
constamment notre armee dans une mesure irraisonnable et non
proportionnee a nos besoins reels. Le danger vient de l'interieur. Le
plus grand des dangers d'ordre politique, national, racial, qui doit etre
considere comme le plus dangereux des fleaux pour le pays et pour la
nation est celui qui vient de l'usage de l'opium et de l'alcool, ainsi que
des maladies veneriennes et de l'absence du sport."

Taqizadeh annoncait la suspension provisoire de "Kaveh", mais
ce fut, helas! sa suspension definitive. "Kaveh" avait vecu!

Dans son "A Literary History of Persia" E. G. Browne, apres
avoir parle longuement de "Kaveh" et de sa grande signification,
conclut son point de vue en ces termes: "la non-parution de 'Kaveh',
des le mois de decembre 1921, fut un coup tres sensible pour

l'iranisme". 1

Impassible comme toujours, Taqizadeh ne montra point la
douleur qu'il en ressentit. Ses compatriotes le decevaient encore une
fois. Mais lui qui connait une grande partie de notre Livre Saint, le
Coran, par cceur, il savait qu'il y est dit:

"Patiente comme ont su patienter les maitres de la volonte" (Al-
Ahqaf, 34) et "sache pardonner et faire ce qu'il faut, sans te soucier
des ignorants" (Al-A'raf, 198).

II sait que deja 850 ans avant nous, le grand Maibodi a dit:

7jJJ jj O' J-*>-fcj

J\5C& •

^f aTUI

: c^-u»l O^r ^ C**-**s

"C'est la ton sort! La vie qui conduit au tresor passe par la douleur et
c'est le malheur dont le fruit est la guerison et le don genereux!"
II sait aussi que:

"Dieu n'aime pas les injustes!" Nous voulons aussi, de notre cote,

1 Traduction persane de R. Yassemi, Teheran, 1316 h.s., p. 322.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L'AI CONNU 1 3

et malgre tout, esperer que la victoire finale appartiendra a Yazdan;
et nous avons egalement la conviction que le pays qui produit des
etres de la trempe de Taqizadeh saura defier le temps et triompher
de ses vicissitudes: il vivra!

OUjT T p!j Ci\»y T . . 01 jr.! j*

Sj\* i t <lsju \ * • . . iM j>
Jlli \'t _ j_l£Ti y^jC <j3lo>>>

j W JUaT jji ^L. JjU i-1 jC"
.jji fcjb-> JjCj cXif j* Jj_;

.2—1 ilji T OljJ

V\ Ja jl

Redaction eKavelu

erlin-Charlottenbourg

Lcibniistr. 64

"KAVEH"
Le journal mensuel "Kaveh" comprend en tout 59 numeros de
chacun 16 pages (38 centimetres de long sur 28 de large), porte sur
une periode de cinq annees et deux mois (24 Janvier 1916 au 30 mars
1922) et se repartit en deux series: Ancienne serie qu'on pourrait
qualifier de "serie de la guerre" et qui comprend 35 numeros (du
24 Janvier 1916 au 15 aout 1919) et "la nouvelle serie", serie d'apres-
guerre, comprenant 24 numeros (12 numeros pour la premiere annee
—en realite la 5me de la parution, allant du n° 1 du 22 Janvier 1920
au n° 12 du 13 decembre 1920 et 12 numeros pour la seconde annee
allant du n° 1 du 11 Janvier 1921 au n° 12 du l er decembre 1921).
Chaque numero porte comme date le l er du mois arabe (Hegire
lunaire), ainsi que son correspondant selon l'ere yazdeguerdi et l'ere

a locust's leg

chretienne. Le journal, a partir du premier numero de la nouvelle
serie a douze pages de texte et, en plus comme supplement, quatre
pages de "l'Histoire des relations russo-persanes", done au total
16 pages. En plus des 59 numeros reguliers, le journal comprend
encore, comme numero special et final, un numero en quatre pages,
date du 30 mars 1922, annoncant sa suspension provisoire, suspension
qui, malheureusement, fut finalement definitive. Ainsi done, le
journal totalise un ensemble d'environ 1.000 grandes pages (exacte-
ment 948 pages).

Liste abregee des principaux articles et etudes de caractere litteraire,
scientifique ou historique, parus dans le journal "KAVEH", durant les
cinq armies de sa publication (24 Janvier 1916-30 mars 1922):

9
10

12.

13.

14.
15.

16.
17.
18.

Ancienne Serie

. "Kaveh" et son etendard (n° 1, 24 Janvier 1916);

Institution du "Soleil rouge" (meme numero);

Brigade de cosaques persans (n° 4, 14 mars 1916);

Poesie patriotique en Kurde (meme numero que le precedent);

Naurouz djamchidi (deux articles) (n° 5-6, 18 avril 1916);

Evenements survenus en Iran au cours de 1916 (n° 18-19,

15 fevrier 1917);

OfHciers suedois dans la gendarmerie persane (meme numero);

Adib-ul-mamalek, poete persan (n° 20, 15 avril 1917);

Livre des documents anglais concernant l'lran (meme numero);

Resultats des travaux de la mission scientifique allemande en

Afghanistan (n° 21, 15 juin 1917);

Deposition des plaintes de la part des nationalistes persans

aupres du Congres international des socialistes a Stockholm,

ete 1917 (n° 22, 17 aout 1917);

Reza Abbassi, miniaturiste persan (n° 23, 15 septembre 1917);

Livre persan "Gandje-CMyegan" (Situation economique de la

Perse), paru a Berlin, edition "Kaveh" (n° 24, 15 Janvier 1918);

Regime parlementaire en Iran (n° 25, 15 fevrier 1918);

Declarations officielles au sujet de l'lran (traite de Brest-Litowsk)

(meme numero que le precedent);

Meilleurs ouvrages occidentaux sur la Perse (meme numero);

Regime parlementaire en Perse (suite) (n° 26, 15 mars 1918);

Meilleurs ouvrages occidentaux sur la Perse (suite) (meme

numero);

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L AI CONNU

19. Regime parlementaire en Perse (2me suite) (n° 27, 15 avril 1918);

20. Mines de petrole en terre bakhtiari en Perse (meme numero que
le precedent);

21. Meilleurs ouvrages occidentaux sur la Perse (2me suite) (meme
numero);

22. Relations historiques entre la Russie et l'lran (n° 28, 15 mai 1918);

23. Les meilleurs ouvrages occidentaux sur la Perse (3me suite)
(meme numero);

24. Regime parlementaire en Iran (liste des deputes des 3 premieres
legislatures ainsi que celle des ministeres pendant cette periode
(3me suite) (n° 29-30, 15 juillet 1918);

25. Meilleurs ouvrages, etc. (4me suite) (meme numero);

26. Minorites en Iran (meme numero);

27. Serie de publications de "Kaveh" (meme numero);

28. Dettes de l'Etat persan (n° 31-32, 15 octobre 1918);

29. Note relative a l'orthographe (meme numero);

30. Meilleurs ouvrages, etc. (5me suite) (meme numero);

31. "Nouvelle note" concernant l'alphabet persan (meme numero);

32. Remarques concernant l'alphabet persan (meme numero);

33. Mines de petrole en terres bakhtiari (n° 35, 15 aout 1919);

34. Les plus anciennes poesies persanes apres 1'Islam (meme numero);

35. Meilleurs ouvrages, etc. (6me suite) (meme numero).

II. Nouvelle Serie

1. Les plus celebres poetes persans (Ferdauci) (n° 1, 22 Janvier 1920);

2. Situation en Perse (meme numero);

3. Histoire des relations russo-persanes (livre en supplement)
(meme numero que le precedent); 1

4. Societe petroliere anglo-persane (meme numero);

5. Les poetes persans les plus celebres (suite) (meme numero);

6. Situation de la Perse (meme numero);

7. Les progres de la langue persane (etude comparative) (n° 3,
21 mars 1920);

8. Bolchevisme dans l'ancienne Perse, Mazdak (lere partie) (meme
numero que le precedent);

1 Cet ouvrage parait d&ormais comme supplement a "Kaveh" jusqu'a la
suspension definitive de ce journal (4 pages dans chaque numero, a quelques
exceptions pres). L'ouvrage inacheve 1 ainsi publie comprend 93 grandes
pages. L'auteur espere toujours le completer et eventuellement le publier.

x 6 A LOCUST S LEG

9. Situation en Perse (meme numero);

10. Remarques 1 (Reclame en Perse) (n° 4-5, 21 mai 1920);

11. Les progres de la langue persane (suite) (meme numero);

12. Dispute (monazereh) entre la nuit et le jour (comparaison entre
la science selon les savants de 1' Orient et ceux de 1' Occident)
(zoologie et etymologie) (meme numero);

13. Bolchevisme, etc. (suite) (meme numero);

14. Les poetes persans les plus celebres, etc. Daqiqi (2me suite)
(meme numero);

15. Poesie pahlavi et poesie persane ancienne (meme numero);

16. "Monazereh"— Dispute entre la nuit et le jour (geographie)
(n° 6, 18 juin 1920);

17. Education de la femme, base des progres sociaux (meme numero);

18. Publication de la liste des meilleurs ouvrages occidentaux sur la
Perse (meme numero);

19. Comparaison entre la bonne et la mauvaise poesie persane (n° 7,
17 juillet 1920);

20. Les quatre periodes de la langue persane (meme numero);

21. Situation en Perse (meme numero);

22. Compte rendu de l'ouvrage "Persien von der 'penetration
pacifique' zum Protektorat" von Litten (meme numero);

23. Etat de la Perse au temps de Anouchiravan (selon des sources
chinoises) (n° 8, 16 aout 1920);

24. "Monazereh" etc. (geologie, ethnologie, religion, etymologie);
(meme numero);

25. Les poetes persans les plus celebres (Abou Chakoure Balkhi)
(3me suite) (meme numero);

26. Traduction (exemples comparatifs) (n° 9, 15 septembre 1920);

27. Abdjad Hawaz (n° 10, 15 octobre 1920);

28. Enquete au sujet de certains mots europeens et leurs equivalents
en persan (meme numero);

29. Les poetes persans les plus celebres, Ferdauci: L'origine premiere
de "Chah-Nameh" (meme numero);

30. Situation en Perse (meme numero);

1 A partir de cette date, "Kaveh" publie dans presque chacun de ses
numeros et sous ce titre "Remarques et observations" (ou un titre de ce
genre) un Editorial de la plume de Taqizadeh, dans lequel ce dernier critique
d'une facon magistrale et avec une franchise sans precedent la conduite et le
comportement de ses compatriotes et leur montre les moyens de se corriger.

TAQIZADEH, TEL QUE JE L'AI CONNU 1 7

31. Une lettre de l'epoque sassanide (lettre de Tansar) (n° 11, 13
novembre 1920);

32. La source ancienne et originelle du "Chah-Nameh" (2me suite)
(meme numero);

33. Paralysie partielle (La situation desavantageuse de la femme en
Perse) (n° 12, 13 decembre 1920);

34. La langue persane defectueuse et ses causes (meme numero);

35. Source ancienne du "Chah-Nameh" (3me suite) (meme numero);

36. Preambule a la 2me annee du "Kaveh" (nouvelle serie). Condi-
tions du relevement national de la Perse (n° 1, 11 Janvier 1921);

37. "Monazereh" (cosmologie) (meme numero);

38. "Le persan est du sucre" (nouvelle persane) (meme numero);

39. Source persane du "Chah-Nameh" (4me suite) (meme numero);

40. Reponse a l'enquete (voir le n c 28) (meme numero);

41. Teheran (etude historique) (meme numero);

42. L'ancienne poesie persane (epoque sassanide; debut de la
periode islamique) (meme numero);

43. Les hommes celebres de l'Orient et de l'Occident (Seyyed
Djamal-ed-dine) (n° 3, 11 mars 1921);

44. Les "Chah-Nameh" en persan (meme numero);

45. Naurouz et le calendrier persan (proposition) (n° 4, 10 avril
1921);

46. Les hommes celebres etc. (Le Prince Krapotkin) (meme numero);

47. "Monazereh" (etymologie, geographie, ethnologie) (meme num-
ero);

48. Teheran (etude historique) (meme numero);

49. Les journaux paraissant en persan (liste detaillee) (meme numero);

50. Une lettre d'Emir Teymour Gourgan a Charles VI, roi de France
(Fac-simile) (n° 9, mai 1921);

51. Attila, fleau du Ciel (lere partie) (meme numero);

52. Histoire de rimprimerie et du journalisme en Perse (meme
numero);

53. L'ancienne musique de la Perse (meme numero);

54. Les hommes celebres etc. (Seyyed Ahmad Khan) (n° 6, 8 juin
1921);

55. Attila, etc. (2me partie) (meme numero);

56. Les principales monnaies (etude economique) (meme numero);

57. Le journalisme en Perse au XHIme siecle hejire (meme numero);

58. Les hommes celebres, etc. (Karl Marx) (n° 7, 7 juillet 1921);

a locust's leg

59. Les plus anciennes relations entre la Perse et PAllemagne (meme
numero);

60. Les "Chah-Nameh" persans (supplement) (meme numero);

61. Les prodiges scientifiques en Occident et en Orient (magnetisme,
spiritisme, etc.) (n° 8, 6 aout 1921);

62. La premiere expedition militaire de FEurope en Perse (meme
numero);

63. Le traite irano-russe (du 17 Djamadi-ul-Akhara 1339 h.l.) (meme

numero);

64. Compte rendu de l'ouvrage "Arabian Medicine" par Edward G.
Browne (meme numero);

65. Le soufisme et ses origines (n° 9, 4 septembre 1921);

66. Supplement au sujet de Seyyed Djamal-ud-dine Assad-Abadi,
dit Afghani (meme numero);

67. Note au sujet de Farticle sur le calendrier persan (voir le n° 45,
nouvelle serie); (meme numero);

68. Le traite irano-russe (observations) (meme numero);

69. Conception du monde selon les Hindous et selon les Iraniens
(n° 10, 3 octobre 1921);

70. Les hommes celebres, etc. (Martin Luther) (meme numero);

71. Les poetes persans les plus celebres: Ferdauci, sa vie et son
oeuvre (5me suite) (meme numero);

72. "Les Mille et une nuits" (n° 11, 2 novembre 1921);

73. Compte rendu de deux recents livres: 1° H. Masse: "Essai sur le
poete Saadi"; 2° la traduction anglaise par E. G. Browne des
"Tschar-Maghaleh" de Nezami-Arouzi (meme numero);

74. Les poetes les plus celebres de la Perse: Ferdauci (6me suite)
(meme numero);

75. Les reformes fondamentales et les reformes urgentes (n° 12, l er
decembre 1921);

76. "Le Cafe de Surat" (traduit en persan) (meme numero);

77. "Un chapitre de la civilisation grecque" (Bibliotheque d'Alex-
andrie) (meme numero);

78. Les poetes les plus celebres de la Perse: Ferdauci (7me suite) et
le Compendium (meme numero);

79. Les dangers menacant l'independance politique de la Perse
(numero extra du 30 mars 1922, annoncant la suspension pro-
visoire du "Kaveh").

A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY

(confined to writings on learned subjects)

A. IN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES:

1937 A new contribution to the materials concerning the life of
Zoroaster, BSOS, viii, 947-54.

Some chronological data relating to the Sasanian period,

BSOS, ix, 125-39.

Zur Chronologie der Sassaniden, ZDMG, 91, 673-9.

1938 The word sun6 in the Vendidad, BSOS, ix, 321-5.

An ancient Persian practice preserved by a non-Iranian
people, BSOS, ix, 603-19.

Old Iranian calendars, Royal Asiatic Society (Prize Publica-
tion Fund Vol. xvi), London.

1939 Various eras and calendars used in the countries of Islam,
BSOS, ix, 903-22; x, 107-32.

1940 The Iranian festivals adopted by the Christians and con-
demned by the Jews, BSOAS, x, 632-53.

1943 The early Sasanians, some chronological points which pos-
sibly call for revision, BSOAS, xi, 6-51.

1945 Notes on W. B. Henning, The Manichaean Fasts, JRAS,
155-64.

1947 The "Era of Zoroaster", JRAS, 33-40.

1952 The Old Iranian calendars again, BSOAS, xiv, 603-11
[see also Correction, ibid, xv, 1953, p. 393].

1957 The dates of Mani's life, translated from the Persian, intro-
duced, and concluded by W. B. Henning, Asia Major, N.S.,
vi, 106-21.

A LOCUST S LEG

B. IN PERSIAN (The articles published in Kdveh are not

included):
1928 Muqaddama dar sarh-i hal wa 'aqa'id u kutub-i Hakim
Nasir-i Khusrau, Diwdn-i as'dr-i Ndsir-i Khusrau, Tehran.

1930 Az Parwlz ta Cangiz, Tehran.

1937 Gah-sumari dar Iran-i qadim, Tehran.

1938 Tuhfatu'l-muluk (ed.), Tehran.
1943 Maqalat-i Taqizadeh, I, Tehran.

1948 Nauriiz, Yadgar, iv/3, 52-66.

Tawajjuh-i Iranian dar guzasta ba-tibb u atibba, Yadgar,

v/6-7, 9-22.

Tarikh-i Zardust, Yadgar, v/8-9, 27-44.

Tarikh-i 'Arabistan wa qaum-i 'Arab dar awan-i zuhur-i
Islam, i-iii, Tehran.

Sal u mah-i Turkha, Symbolae in honorem Z.V. Togan, 38-49.
1956 Sayyid Jamalu'd-din ma'ruf ba-Afgani, Marddn-i khud-
sdkhta, Tehran, 42-54.

ManI wa din-i u (ba-indimam-i mutiin-i 'arabi wa farsl dar
bara-yi ManI wa manawiyyat, ba-ihtimam-i Ahmad Afsar-i
SlrazI), Tehran.

Zaman-i Zardust, Revue de la Faculte des Lettres de Tabriz,
xi/1, 29-38.
Sabi'In, Revue de la Faculte des Lettres de Tabriz, xi/1, 19-27.

Khitdba-i Aqd-yi Sayyid Hasan Taqizadeh mustamil bar
samma-i az tarikh-i awd'il-i inqildb wa masrutiyyat-i Iran,
Tehran.

1951

1955

1959

1960

SAIF-AL-DIN BAKHARZI

Par IRAJ AFSHAR

L'article suivant est un resume d'un ensemble de recherches et
d'investigations au sujet de la biographie de Saif-al-din Bakharzi et de
ses descendants.

Saif-al-din Bakharzi, un des plus grands sufis de la premiere
moitie du septieme siecle de 1'hegire, est connu dans la litterature
persane par ses quatrains attrayants. Selon des sources historiques,
Bakharzi et ses descendants ont ete, pendant des longues annees, les
maitres spirituels de nombreux disciples Kubravides.

La plus vieille trace qu'on puisse trouver de son nom dans les
textes anciens, c'est le recit relate par 'Ata Malek (ecrit en 650-8) dans
Tdrikh-e Jahdngushay au sujet de la fondation d'une ecole a Bokhara. 1
Apres 'Ata Malek la plus vieille source sur Saif-al-din, c'est Athmdr-
al-Ashjdr, ecrit par 'Ali-Shah ibn Muhammad Khwarezmi (Bukhari),
un des disciples de Bakharzi, (en 687), mentionnant sa mort, dimanche
le 24 Dhi-al-Qa'deh 659, 2 et ceci est tout a fait conforme aux affirma-
tions d' Al-Javaher-al-Mudieh. 3

En general, Bakharzi etait connu sous son titre: Saif-al-din.
Son konyeh, d'apres les documents anciens, 4 surtout Owrdd-al-ahbdb
ecrit par son petit-fils, 5 est Abu-al-Ma'ali. Toutes les sources

1 Tdrikh-e Jahdngushay, ed. M. Qazvini, vol. Ill, p. 9.

2 Manuscrit du treizieme siecle appartenant a Prof. S. Naficy: p. 216:
AiijJaJlj kx±j£i\ (jLkLu. ^-j~£JI 7z-~& J J^i Aj Oiljl (SjJ }' o-^-i (j*i

et p. 220: *"** *~JJ

j^J U^. J <^~*^ A~S-ZS^ (_^*i J ^ >^ M ) ■*-> 3 oUilLi J Jy^q ili'l Al y&i k ij* Oj^* w

3 Al-Javaher-al-Mudieh, Heydar-abad 1332, vol. I, p. 249.

4 Mujmal-e Fasih-e Khwdfi, Tarikh-e Mulld-Zddeh.

6 Owrdd-al-Ahb'db va Fasus-al-Adab, f. 64 a (MS. ecrit en 778 de la Bibl.
Nafedh-Pasha).

A locust's LEG

sont d'accord au sujet de son nom: Sa'id. D'apres la plupart des
documents, nous savons que ses contemporains l'appellaient
"Sheikh-al-'alam". 1

Selon Qandiyeh, a Bukhara et Samarqand il etait renomme
comme Khwajeh-e Fath-abadi, 2 et cela parce que son khdneqdh se
trouvait a Fath-Abad pres de Bukhara.

D'apres Semt-al-Old, son pere se nommait Mutahhar. 3 Les
auteurs d' Al-Javdher-al-Mudieh et de Tdrikh-e Mulla-Zadeh relatent
que Saif-al-din est ne le samedi, neuf Sha'ban 586. 4 Mais Fasih-e
Khwafi a ecrit 576. La date 586 est juste parce que nous savons que la
date de sa mort est 659 et selon Mulla-Zadeh il a vecu soixante-treize
ans. Quant a la date de sa mort, les auteurs ne sont pas d'accord:
Mujmal-e Fasih Khwafi; 646; Shahed-e Sadeq: 653; et quelques
autres sources comme Tdrikh-e Gozideh, Tdrikh-e Kabir, Habib-al-
Siyar donnent la date 658. Mais dans les sources proche de son siecle,
Athmdr-al-Ashjdr et Al-Javdher-al-Mudieh, ainsi que Tdrikh-e Mulla-
Zadeh, Nafahat-al-Uns, l'annee 659 est donnee comme la date de sa
mort et ceci est plus vraisemblable. L'auteur d' Athmdr-al-Ashjdr
ecrit: le samedi 24 Dhi-al-Qa'deh 659. 5

Avant de parler des chroniques de sa vie, il faut rappeller que
son petit-fils, Abu-al-Mafakher Yahya, l'auteur du Owrad-al-Ahbdb,
raconte dans ce livre que Saif-al-din redigeait un journal secret de sa
vie, qu'on a retrouve apres sa mort. 6

C'est dans sa ville natale qu'il a fait ses etudes classiques,

1 Mujmal-e Fasih-e Khwafi, Tdrikh-e Gozideh, Tdrikh-e Mulld-Zddek,
Tazkerat-al-Owliya-ye-Mehrdbi.

2 Qandiveh, ed. I. Afshar, pp. 64-5.

3 Mais Habib-al-Siyar (ecrit en 930) et quelques textes moms anciens ont
connu son pere sous le nom de Muzaffar, et ceci a donne lieu a une grande
confusion. Le plus veridique semble etre celui de Mutahhar pour cette simple
raison que le fils de Saif-al-din s'appellait aussi Mutahhar.

4 Tdrikh-e Mulla-Zadeh, Tehran 1339, pp. 40-2; l'auteur a ajoute ce
quatrain: l • •■

^(ji^i? .stuLkj J-^i^. ^yr&j

jLj

oU)

J 1 f** J-

crt.

din:

5 En Tdrikh-e Mulla-Zadeh on trouve un quatrain sur la mort de Saif-al-

Owrad-al-Ahbdb, f. 89 a.

SAIF-AL-DIN BAKHARZI 23

completees par quelques annees d'etudes de Feqh, Qard'at et Tafsir
a Harat et a Nishabur. 1

Puis ayant rendu visite a Sheikh Najm-al-din Kubra, fondateur
de Tariqeh-e Kubraviyeh, a Khwarazm, il le choisit comme maitre et
guide, et apres avoir accompli un "arba'in" ', il recut 1'honneur d'etre
un des successeurs de Najm-al-din. 2

Abu-al-Mafakher Yahya dans Owrdd-al-Ahbdb nous a donne
les 13ji-\ *UJ de Saif-al-din:

OSjJI L-J2S J-LxJI f=-^i jA m^JIj (_j_o-v=JI iijo^-1 <SjQ\ j& iji •**•! fjjJJ!

Ainsi qu'il a ecrit sous le titre ^QJI £j|J jluJ 4 :

Selon Mujmal, il a ete investi, avant de partir pour Khwarazm,
par Sheikh Taj-al-din Mahmud ibn Hadad (?) en recevant de lui le
Kherqeh. 5

Avant 618 (la date de l'assassinat de Najm-al-din Kubra), Saif-
al-din quitta Najm-al-din pour se rendre a Bukhara, ou il passa le
reste de sa vie, done une quarantaine d'annees. D'apres Owrdd-al-
Ahbdb Saif-al-din aurait ete persecute par les infideles pour la propa-
gation de la Tariqeh-e Kubraviyeh et le developpement de 1'Islamisme.
Abu-al-Mafakher ecrit: Saif-al-din fut arrete, ligote et deporte par
les infideles, et il prononca en meme temps ce quatrain: 6

Le renom de Saif-al-din etait si grand que Khwaju-ye Kermani
(689-P753), qui n'etait meme pas de ses contemporains, lui a con-
sacree une Qasideh, ou il l'a loue majestueusement. 7

1 Fasih-e Khwafi raconte que Saif-al-din a lu Hadith chez Shahab-al-din
Suhrevardi. Mais en Tdrikh-e Mulla-Zadeh, aussi on trouve le nom d'Emam
Sayen-al-din comme "Ustdd" de Hadith.

2 Toutes les sources ont parle de ce sujet.

3 Owrdd-al-Ahbdb, f. 64 a.

4 Ibid., f. 64 b.

5 Sous les chroniques de l'annee 646. Pour Taj-al-din voir les notices de
Muhammad Qazvini dans Shadd-al-Ezdr, pp. 307 et 352.

6 Owrdd-al-Ahbdb, f. 173 b.

' Divdn-e Khwdju-ye Kermani, ed. Suheyli, Tehran 1336, pp. 598-600.

A locust's leg

Les renseignements les plus important que nous possedons sur
ses compagnons et ses contemporains sont les suivants:

Dans Manaqeb-al-'Arefin on trouve deux recits au sujet de la
rencontre entre Jalal-al-din Muhammad Rumi (Mowlana) et Mazhar-
al-din Mutahhar (le troisieme fils de Saif-al-din) qui font croire que
Mowlana etait beaucoup considere par Saif-al-dm. 1

Le deuxieme recit rapporte que Malek Shams-al-d.n Hendi,
Malek de Shiraz, expedia un des ghazals de Mowlana a Saif-al-dm
qui apres 1' avoir lu fut tellement enflamme qu'il poussa un grand en,
se dechira la chemise et tomba en coma. 2

Rowdat-al-Jannat attribue a Nasir-al-din Tusi un quatrain

satirique contre Saif-al-din:

Selon Rashahdt-e 'Ein-al Hayat, Bakharzi et Qarib se frequen-
taient beaucoup,' et Bakharzi qualifiait Khwajeh-Qanb d homme

Palf Tamal-e Tafreshi, en Mulhaqdt-al-Sordh, park d'une lettre
ecrite par Bakharzi a Kamal-al-din Khwarezmi, un des disciples

Kubravides. 5 . ,

Dans Qandiyeh on trouve deux recits concernant les relations de
Saif-al-din avec Nur-al-din Basir, le grand sufi de Samarqand.

Ses csiivres

(1) j-iA ^ ^ (Hadiyat-al-'Arefin, vol. I, p. 391). Nous ne
connaissons aucun manuscrit de cet ouvrage.

(2) cAil .Sly en arabe. II y a un manuscrit dans la collection de
I'Universitfde Leiden (de Goeje: Cat. codd. or. Bibl. acad. Lugd.

1 Manaqeb-al-'Arefin, vol. I, pp. 143-5.

^dlCaUJanndt-e KInodnsdri, p. 81. M. T. Modarres-e Radavi dans
<<AhJZ-lmle Khvdjeh Nasir" (Tehran, 1334, p. 331-2) nous donne la
reponse de Saif-al-din: ^ «-.lL«.s,el»j

4 Rashahdt-e 'Ein-al Hayat, Kanpur 1912, p. SO. ,-

^Barthold, TVtetaK « S^oMtz Mongolskago Nachestvta, Textes, p. 136.
6 Qandiyeh, pp. 64—5.

SAIF-AL-DIN BAKHARZI 25

Sai., 1873, V, p. 18, cf. Brockelmann: GAL., Suppl. I, p. 810; P.
Voorhoeve: Handlist . . . Leiden, 1957, p. 397).

(3) juJ\ a^j en persan, une des sources d' Owrdd-al-Ahbdb
d'Abu-al-Mafakher Yahya. 1

(4) rLts. aJL«j en persan. Je connais un manuscrit du huitieme
siecle. 2

(5) oLclj (Quatrains). Ses quatrains sont confondus avec ceux de
Khayyam, Baba-Afzal, Abii-Sa'id, etc. 3 Pour la premiere fois Khuda-
Bakhsh publia 51 quatrains d'apres un manuscrit de sa bibliotheque, 4
et apres lui Sa'id Naficy nous donna 90 quatrains. 5

Son " Khaneqah" et sa tombe

Saif-al-din fut enterre dans son Khaneqah a Fathabad pres de
Bukhara. Selon Mujmal (sous la date 649) la tombe de Saif-al-din a
ete fondee par la mere de Manku Qaan.

Ibn Batuta, en voyageant, descendit dans ce Khaneqah et en
park de la facon suivante: Ce Khaneqah possede un des "owqdf" dont
le benefice est considerable. 6

L'auteur de Tard'eq-al-Haqd'eq au quatorzieme siecle de l'hegire
park de ce Khaneqah et selon lui e'est Tamerlan qui fut le fondateur
de ce foyer.

Ses descendants

Saif-al-din avait trois fils: Jalal-al-din Muhammad, Burhan-al-
din Ahmad et Mazhar-al-din Mutahhar. Nous connaissons aussi, de
cette familk, d'autres personnages issus de Burhan-al-din Ahmad
qui ont vecu jusqu'a la moitie du dixieme siecle de l'hegire.

(1) Jalal-al-din Muhammad, fils aine de Bakharzi, ne le samedi 5
Rabi'-al-avval 626, etudiait le feqh chez son pere. 7 II fut assassine le

1 Owrdd-al-Ahbdb, f. 204 a. Voir aussi F. Meier, Die Fawa'ih al-Qamal
wa-Fawdtih al-Galdl des Nagm al-dln al-Kubrd, Wiesbaden, 1957.

a Bibliotheque Centrale de l'Universite de Tehran, No. 2449.

3 Sa'id Naficy: Sokhandn-e Manzum-e Abu Sa'id Abu-al-Khayr , p. 60.

i Khuda-Bakhsh: ZDMG., 1905,' pp. 345-54.

6 Sa'id Naficy: Saif-al-din Bakharzi, Majalle Ddneshk. Adab., vol. II,
No. 3, pp. 1-15.

6 Safarndmeh-e Ibn Batuta, trad, de M. A. Muvahhed, Tehran 1337, p. 373.

7 Al-Javdher-al-Mudieh, vol. II, p. 56. — Rashid-al-din Fadl Allah parle de
lui, sous le nom de Burhan-al-din (Barthold, he. cit., p. 126).

A locust's leg

mercredi 16 Jamadi-al-Ula 661 pres de Bukhara et enterre au Khdn-
egdh de Fathabad. 1

(2) La premiere trace qu'on puisse trouver de Burhan-al-din Ah^mad
s dans ? Semt-al-'Ola: c'est le fait que Tarkan Khatun la Qara-

khataide de Kerman demanda a Saif-al-din d'envoyer un de ses fils a
Kerman pour enseigner a 1'ecole fondee par elle. Saif-al-dm envoya
Burhan-al-din. 2

(3) Selon Mandqeb-al-'Arefin Mazhar-al-din Mutahhar apres la
£Lt de son pere se rendit a Qoniyeh ou il a demeure quelques
annees. II etait en relation avec Mowlana-ye Rumi.

(4) Burhan-al-din Ahmad avait un fils nomme Abu-al-Mafakher
Yahva qui se rendit en 712 de Kerman a Bukhara ou il mourut en 736.
Quand Tbn Batuta etait en voyage a Bukhara c'est Abu-al-Mafakher
qui lui a donne l'hospitalite. 4

L'auteur du Tarikh-e Mulld-Zadeh parle de deux fils d Abu-al-

Maf Noufavons parle quelquefois * Ovrdd-al-Ahbdb va Fu^al-
Adab ecrit par Abu-al-Mafakher, le traite bien utde et mteressant sur
ffTaZof. On y peut trouver les chroniques de la biograph.e de
l'auteur.

(5) Les autres descendants: j.,„ trp «

Selon Tazkerat-al-Owliya-ye Mehrabi nous connaissons d autres
descendants de Burhan-al-din, comme suit:

(a) Khwajeh Zahir-al-din Hasan.

(b) Jalal-al-din Mas'ud, le grand-pere de l'auteur de ce hvre. II
etait d'abord a Bukhara, puis il se rendit a Kerman.

(c) Sa'id Mehrabi Kermani, l'auteur de Tazkerat-aWwkya. I
ecrit dans son livre qu'il etait Khatib a Masjed-e Jame' de Kerman.

I ? fl> f "AStrflf; t P 58-Pour les autres chroniques de Burhan-al-
Owliyd, pp. 78-81. _

= Manag e 6-«/-'^^n, pp. 143-5 et 267.
1 Safarndmeh-e Ibn Batuta, p. 373.

5 Tarikh-e Mulld-Zadeh, p. 43.

6 Tazkerat-al-Owliyd, pp. 64 et 77-«y.

SAIF-AL-DIN BAKHARZI

TABLEAU

Saif-al-din Bakharzi

(586-659)

Mazhar-al-din
Mutahhar

Zahir-al-din .
Hasan

Burhan-al-din Ahmad
(mort en 696 a Kerman)

Probablement .

Jalal-al-din Muhammad
(assassin^ en 661)

, Probablement 2

Abu-al-Mafakher Yahya
(mort en 736)

Ruh-al-din Davud

Burhan-al-din

Jalal-al-din
Mas'ud

Sa'id Mehrabi

A ROYAL POEM

By A. J. ARBERRY

That the Muzaffarid ruler Shah Shuja' (1331-84), patron of letters
and learning, himself had literary pretensions is of course well known;
apart from a small handful of verses, however, nothing from his pen
has hitherto appeared to have survived. 1 But now a complete mathnawi
by him has turned up in that treasure-house of oriental rarities, Sir
Chester Beatty's library in Dublin; it is proposed in this paper to give
a brief account of this discovery. It is hoped that the description may
lead to the identification of other copies elsewhere; for the poem,
apart from its literary interest, is of some historical importance and
certainly merits publication, but it would be hazardous to publish on
the basis of a single manuscript which, though good, is nevertheless

not perfect. .«-»•-•

The poem, whose title is given by the author as Ruh al- ashiqin,
occupies folios 248-72 of a collectaneous volume (No. 324) which also
comprises the Mantiq al-tair (folios 1-145) and the Asrar-nama
(folios 146-247) of Farid al-Dln 'Attar. The volume is the product of
a single scribe. Hajji Ahmad ibn Hajji Saluk al-Tulami, who has
dated the Asrar-nama transcription Muharram 846 (May-June 1442)
and the Mantiq al-tair transcription 847 (1443-4). The copy of the
Ruh al-'ashiqin is itself undated, but clearly belongs to the same
period; the stitching shows that it was transcribed immediately after
the Asrar-nama. The copyist wrote an elegant nasta'liq, 17 lines to the
page. The paper is of good quality but has been stained by water;
there is some quite attractive illumination.

^Toasim Ghani, Tdnkh-i 'asr-i &&*, pp. 324-53; E. G. Browne,

Uter ^ SMl^ title-page, with the subsidiary title Dak
nama-yi Shah Shuja'. The best known Dak ndma is of course that of Auhadi
d 738/1337-8), sometimes called Mantiq al-'ushshdq, which may have furnished
the model; see Encyclopaedia of Islam (new edition), I, p. 764.

A ROYAL POEM

The Ruh al- ashiqin, which is not mentioned by Hajji Khalifa,
opens with a prose preface in which the author briefly sets out the
history of its composition.

IP^wj oLJu

( j i j dl_> :>\J j I |»jlx-i l_^J Lx«ji _j Jw<i jj g ;;. < dli L\=. x_j Ui I j Lc j

i$»jjj -ijj^ Uiji j^' i-Hi* (_s*-^ j&l jj- 5 •**? jjj j* jKS js**

\Ji<iUJI 7-Jj IjjTj C~£j « » ! « <uLioi dlj «uU- i\j^M jl Ij' X-£J> ^ -Jii

*JI ^j LgJ 1* Li

The poem was thus composed at the time when Shah Shuja' and
his brother Shah Mahmud were disputing the throne of Fars. Indeed,
Shah Shuja' in the concluding couplets dated his poem 768 (1366-7).

-lT OjJ Ij A jL=- Jllj), 11. j-s~\ p-S^jS lj"A_jU iO j_l I 4_5

c~~~c-b (3i~c t5j-»j Ijl^J^ "U c— ^~_cl_?c_^ «_ J= oilj o"3j— c

This precise dating makes it certain that the Ruh al- ashiqin was
written, or completed, to celebrate the return of Shah Shuja' to
Shiraz after his brother Shah Mahmud had driven him from the city
following an eleven months' siege, thereafter withdrawing to content
himself with Isfahan until his death in 776 (1375). x

The poem proper opens (folio 249a, line 6) with a conventional
exordium in praise of God:

^-&lc Li' ,}jl:> oL_i rjl j lS _*>Ls.>Ij jjjl dLiT ,»L^

Then comes a brief panegyric of the Prophet Muhammad
(folio 24%, line 2), beginning in Arabic:

1 Shah Mahmud yielded up Shiraz in Dhu '1-Qa'da 767 (August 1366), see
K. V. Zettersteen in Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, p. 258. The poem was thus
composed very shortly afterwards.

3°

A locust's leg

There follows immediately (folio 250a, line 2) an account of the
circumstances under which the poem was composed (v^ f& vc")-

y._JL ^Ji-J-i Jj-!> j-* jl J-M o>5"ojh=- i_j-^j-S^J oA-jJLT

c«ib oW^ £j £J c^ m 6- jl **~ *s-*l J ^ U i <J T ^ "^ H
iSjLjj^-1 J^T ^-Tb r jU 4_T iSjLi ila a>*l *-T*JII A-*

^-IjLjlj *s\$ Ij^..

pi — » i-t"

JjtjyJL a-£~$ c~Sb Oj-ij^ *-*" ^-^ J J J J"^ ,J: ^ J '' '-^
..jlxJijt&j\ fJUS Ojjri d- *T jUI oJLf ^, *T jljjj t)ljJ

Shah Shuja' elected to tell the story of his quarrel and ultimate
reconciliation with his brother by means of an allegory of ten letters
exchanged between "lover" and "beloved"; the rhyming couplets are
interspersed from time to time with ghazals in the same metre, the
poet using as his takhallus Shuja'. 1 The poem ends with a touching
description of the reunion of the "lovers"; the royal poet apologises
for any note of self-praise which may have crept into his composition.

This interesting poem, in which we find the erotic convention
fully developed as an instrument of politics, undoubtedly deserves a
closer study than is possible within the scope of a short paper; it may
well throw new light on the literary tendencies of the age of Hafiz.

1 The earliest instance of the intermixture of mathnawl and ghazal appears
to be the 'Ushshaq-nd?na of 'Iraqi, also called Dahfasl, followed by the Qiran
al-sa'dain of Amir Khusrau; see my Song of Lovers, p. ix.

THE PREFACE TO THE SIDDHASARA-SASTRA

By H. W. BAILEY

In the city of Why-'ndywk-Shypwhr, rouE-avTiox-crccp«>p, Vando-
Savur, Gunde-Sapur, one of the capitals of Sasanian Eran-sahr, the
theory and practice of both Greek and Indian medicine were brought
into association. Through Persia and Syria in turn the new Muslim
culture came to know both aspects. 1 Further East in Iranian-speaking
lands in Khotan and beyond, from about 200 to 1000 A.D., Indian
medical texts were studied and rendered with enthusiasm into the
local languages of Khotan and Kuci (Kucha), as into Uigur Turkish
and Tibetan. 2

The Siddhasara of Ravigupta has survived both in the original
Sanskrit and in complete Tibetan translation, and also partially in
Khotanese and Uigur Turkish. 3 Many of the herbs prescribed in
Indian medicine did not grow in Central Asia, hence their names are
often taken over as loan-words from the original Sanskrit.

To the Khotanese translation of the Siddhasara is prefaced a
metrical introduction in ten four-line strophes in which the occasion
of the translation is set out. The work was rendered from the tta-
guttaa- language, that is, probably, from the Tibetan. The translator's
name does not appear. The owner of the manuscript has written his
name in Sogdian script upon folio 156 of the manuscript Ch. ii 002

1 Some notice of these connexions on the Persian side are given in my
Zoroastrian Problems, 81 ff.

2 The Siddhasara-sastra and Jivaka-pustaka in Khotanese Texts, I; Ch.
00265 in Khotanese Texts, III, 17-19; P 2893.32-267 in Khotanese Texts, III,
82-97. Kuci texts in J. Filliozat, Fragments de textes koutcheens de medecine et de
magie. Uigur Turkish in G. R. Rachmati, Zur Heilkunde der Uiguren, I and II.
Tibetan medical texts are in the Tanjur, in the catalogue of P. Cordier, Cata-
logue dufonds tibetain, III, pp. 500 ff.

3 Rachmati, Zur Heilkunde der Uiguren, II, 20 ff., where the identification of
the text as the Siddhasara had not yet been possible, see Khotanese Texts, I,
p. vii, and Medicinal plant names in Uigur Turkish in Melanges Fuad Kopriilil,
51 ff.

32 A LOCUST S LEG

edited in Khotanese Texts, I, 104: cw kyms'n, that is Gang Kin-san of
the Gang family of the rulers of Tun-huang. This name occurs also
in both Brahmi and Sogdian scripts in the colophon of the Jataka-
stava. 1

The text of these introductory verses is printed in my Khotanese
Texts, I, pp. 2-3, which is out of print. It is therefore desirable to
reprint it here. The translation with some few justificatory notes will
show its various points of interest. We assist at the workshop of
Indian cultural expansion in Central Asia.

Text
siddham
1 aurga tsum ramnam drraina 2 sadi jsa briya

mahaisvara brahmam: tti ma aysda yinamde «s
khu ttu sastra byiitta yinum nva artha 1
siddhasara sastra cu mara vijye myafia «•*
kamala manamda cu ksyam imdrryau jsa uspurra
pichastu jsifii huraka d<u>kham jinaka ->
anaham mu'sdi'nai mahasamudrra 2
si' mam sastra hidvam ye pvi'stai arthana •>
tta ttai sajira udaisa' pisam brrambe •«.
ihiye phara jsa garkha vyamjam patca •>
dasta bera ttida muhye harye akira 3
damda tsve khu ri mam dva drrayi ni ya •>
cu jsam pusaka si' jsam ttamdi sau •>
haysai distamda vija sajaka baisa. --
daista-karma pastriyamda hanasa tsvamda 4
yaugamalyo jsa yudamda sau-kslra krra «s
apaysamda achai cvai naya ni bvira ->
viysam 3 dusa' kala u rve hamdari patca -^
pijsanira-m aprrasama arve muda phari satva
ttifia beda tcai-syam ye pada-ttana nama ^
tu sastra byaudi khanda ttaguttau phari jsa ^
samise pldai khve si' hamye uspurra •»
byutta vaskai ra ni ya bvama hota 6

1 M. J. Dresden, The Jatakastava, p. 446.

8 -ai- written -im-.

* -am written with two dots as -a.

THE PREFACE TO THE SIDDHASARA-SASTRA

7 si' tu sastra jsonakyi 1 stam rrvi vi haiste -v
misdi gyasti mu'sdi' udisa hamaiyi ttu «v
ttagiitto stana uspurra se' pasti byute
ustimamjsyam satvam kimna cu achinuda 7

8 cu mam ye drrama arve pvistyeda •>.
ttayi-si mista vija ttye sastra bvaka 2 *■*
si' ha pa gisti vinau matsara sirka
rariiyi masti uspurra dase si' 8

9 prinahana basta vasva. mu'sdi' udisa' «s
yinide ustimye kala satvam krra »\
krre beda vija achinaka jsa hairitsa »«
misdi gyastum a tti vari byati hamane 9

10 drraina ramnana hiye hathi jsa ttyam -s
gyastune 3 mu'sdi' jsi u sadi jsa patca -*
dva-padya nisi'made acha bisa -s
ba'ysusta byehimde tta tta khvarn ksa'ma 10 || ||

After the usual siddham "success" for auspicious commencement
the poem begins with an invocation to the Three Jewels of the Buddha,
the Dharma and the Sangha. One line (for which space was left)
seems then to have been lost, leaving only three lines in the strophe.
This line may have contained a list of further guardians from the
Hindu tradition. I give first the translation.

1 I come with reverence to the Three Jewels with faith in love,
that I may be able to translate this sastra-treatise according to
its true meaning,

2 the Siddhasara-sastra which stands among books on medicine
like the head complete with all the six faculties, manifest
bestower of life, destroyer of ills, a vast ocean of favour for
the protectorless.

3 This Indian sastra-treatise here was replete with meaning,
being so studied formerly by the acarya-teachers, in foreign
language, moreover the style difficult, a text to be acquired for
knowledge, so much so that it remained for us unproductive.

4 So far did this go that here there were not two or three
(copies?); as to the reader, there was but one. The medical

1 jsamnakyi with -dm for older -o- and -au-.

2 ka written with one dot kam.
a mu written for stii.

A locust's leg

physicians discarded it entirely as a learner's book; they
repressed the uses of it in this world; they ceased.

5 With garlands of yoga medical practices they practised their
treatment in the whole kingdom. The disease was unrecognized
because they knew no theory of it. Unsuitable was the dosa-
basis, time and season otherwise also. They were applying
to them improper medicaments; many beings died.

6 At that time there was the Tsai-siang by name Dpal-brtan.
He obtained the treatise, fragmentary, in ttdguttaa-lsmgua.ge.
But he wrote it with a supplement so that through him it
became complete. For the translation he had, however, no
comprehension and no ability.

7 He humbly presented this treatise to the Court. The gracious
god (=king) of his favour himself ordered to translate this
text from the ttaguttaa-language completely, for the sake of
future beings who would be ill.

8 As to such medicaments as were comprised in it, the Tai-si,
great physician, acquainted with this treatise, truly helped
without grudging, excellent man; he brought it to completion
in the month Rariiya.

9 Pure vows were undertaken under favour; they practise the
treatment for the beings of a later time; at the time of treat-
ment the physician with the invalid, the gracious god (=king),
— by them there may I then be remembered.

10 By the truth of those Three Jewels through divine favour and
moreover through faith, in both ways, may all ills cease from
troubling. May they reach bodhi-enlightenment, as they

desire.
To these verses the following comments will indicate how the
translation has been achieved.
Verse 1

(1) The missing line may have held something like Jatakastava
devattai paravald dysde yendre "may the deities, the protectors keep
guard". A list of these deities can be seen in Khotanese Texts,

II, 54, 14.

(2) aurga corresponds in meaning to Avestan bardjd "with
reverence", frequent in the verb Khotan. bulj- "to honour". Possibly
in orga we have an instrumental singular from *d-barg- with suffix
-ka- or -ga-.

THE PREFACE TO THE SIDDHASARA-SASTRA

(3) dysda is the Khotanese equivalent of Rigvedic addhd which
refers to concealment, hence security. In Old Persian azdd refers to
sureness of knowledge. The word addhd is discussed by D. S. Ruegg,
Journal asiatique, 1955, 163ff. The base may be traced in Old Ind.
andhd- "blind", Avestan anda-, Khotan. ha?ia-, Ormurl hond. The
verb was then andh- : adh "to hide" as in andha-kiipa- "a hidden well".
Other cases of final Khotanese -a are in vaska, uska, vasta. A similar
development from "sure" to "informed" occurs in Latin certum and
certiorem facere.

(4) Siddhasdra-sdstra is the "technical treatise on the essence of
the established medical system".

Verse 3

(1) hidvdm, adj., "Indian". The Iranian form of the name India
is copiously attested from Old Pers. hi(n)du-, hi(n)duya-, Avestan
hdndu-, hindu-, Elam. hindus, Heb. hoddil. In Khotanese occur
himduvaa-, himdvdna-, later himdvdmga katha "Indian city", hidva
ksira "India", hidu "an Indian"; himdvdnana hauna "in Indian
language". Sogdian shows (Bud.) 'yntk'w, 'yntkwt, 'yntwkstny, (Chr.)
yntwq'nty; whence Uigur Turkish '?i'tk'k, 'ntk'k, '?itk', and Mongol
indu, hindu, hindkeg. In western Iranian occur Zor. Pahl. hinduk,
hindukdn, Sasanian inscription Parth. find, hndstn, Pers. hndy. The
Armenians adopted hndik, hndakan, and hndouk. In New Persian
occurs hindu, hindistdn, hindustdn, hindi. The Iranian form is known
also in Chinese 5S ^L, I IK to be taken as hien-tu, and in Hiian
Tsang's Sanskritised form as *ien-d'ak-g'ia, that is *induga-. Within
India the same Iranian form is found: Jaina Sanskrit hinduka-desa-,
Jaina Prakrit himduga-desa-, Bud. Sanskrit indu-desa- and Khotan
Sanskrit hidilka-desa-. From Kuci is quoted yentu kem-ne "in India".

(2) pvista- renders Tib. g-yogs-pa "covered", beside it stand
pvis'- "to cover" and pviys- in pviysaka- "a covering thing, wrap".
If these are from the one base, it is not yet clear how they are con-
nected. Possibly there is here a base pav- : pu- "to cover", found
elsewhere in Old Ind. pavdsta-, Old Pers. pavastd- "envelope", Zor.
Pahl. post, Sa.ng\e.cl pdsk "covering, skin", MunjanI pusto "tree bark",
with suffix as in Zor. Pahl. tapost "carpet", Khotan. karasta- "cover-
ing, skin". Hittite has a trace of this same base pav- in puwaliya-
"piece of clothing", putalliya- "put on clothes", puwatti- "colour".
Khotan. pvecd- which is something put on to a garment may also
belong here. In pvista- the base would be enlarged on the type of Old

36 a locust's leg

Ind. svetd- "white" (from ku-ei-t-), or Old Eng. dritan (from dhr-ei-

d-)-

(3) brrambe "former, early" has been discussed in Asia Major,
N.S. ii, 43. The meaning is given by Vajr. 31 a 2 brrftbi "paurvaka-,
former"; it belongs to bril "early", Pasto zvrutnbai "first".

(4) Sanskrit vyanjana- "mark" occurs in connexion with literary
style also in Jataka-stava 2 r 1 giiraphusta vyamjana sai vrttd anvaha
"recondite style, also difficult metre".

(5) dasta berd "to be taken as object of study" is conjectural.
In P 2787.35 (quoted Asia Major, N.S. vii, 22) dastana seems to mean
"information" with inst. sing. -na. A word dastaura- of uncertain
meaning occurs in P 2739.31. In Hedin 26.7 dastauraja- 1 is an adjec-
tive meaning "in documentary form". The likely connexion is there-
fore Gathic Avestan dqstvd- "dogma", and Zor. Pahl. dastabar
"teacher".

(6) muhye has been taken as a developed form, with -e like make,
from muhu.

Verse 4

(1) pits- "to read", 3 plur. piistda in Or 8212.162, 19 and infm.
piistai in P 5538 b 29. It will belong with the usual Iranian pati-prs-
used in Old Pers. patiprsdtiy, Sogd. (Bud.) ptj3s-, Sasanian inscription
patpursdt.

(2) sdjaka "object of study", as pviysaka- "covering thing" and
pajiika- "a cover".

(3) daista is from Bud. Sanskrit drsta- "seen; the present world".

(4) pastriya- "repressed, revolted" from the base Strang- occur-
ring also alone and with ha-.

(5) hanasa loc. sing, to *hanasa- is also in P 4099.13 hanasa
ttsida "they vanish". The verb occurs in nvl vai hanisimdd "wits are
lost" to render Sanskrit bhrama- (Siddhasdra 107 v 3). The causative
hanais- "destroy" occurs. The base is nas-, Old Ind. nas-.

Verse 5

(1) yoga-mdld is known as the title of a Sanskrit medical text.
Here the compound is used more generally for "group of medical
rules".

(2) sau-ksird "one country" in the sense of the "whole country".
The same occurs in P 2025.114 (KBT, 15) sau-ksira satva "beings of

1 Khotanese Texts, IV, 141.

THE PREFACE TO THE SIDDHASARA-SASTRA

the whole land". In Ch. c 001,845 sau-giittird refers to members of a
whole family.

(3) krra is Sanskrit kriyd- "treatment" in medicine.

(4) Sanskrit naya- "policy, theory, system", with nita-, neya-, of
inference or determination.

(5) dosa- "basis" in the theory of three dosa- bases of disease.
Similarly kdla- "time" and rtu- "season" are discussed in the medical
texts, as in Siddhasdra 3 r 4 ff.

(6) pijsan- "to apply", with more concrete meaning in older
pajsan- "to strike upon" as pajsmde "he beats" in E 6.86 rrahamiina
thond pajsinde "the washerman (masc. -a stem) beats the clothes".
Verse 6

(1) tcai-sydm is the Chinese tsai-siang "great minister", in the
T'ang period one of the most important posts, on which details are
given in R. des Rotours, Traite des fonctionnaires, I, p. 4. It was
earlier noted in BSOAS, x, 601.

(2) the name pada ttana may be explained as Tibetan Dpal-brtan,
in which dpal is "sri, glory", and brtan "firm".

(3) ttdguttau, below verse 7 ttdgi'itto, is likely to mean "Tibetan",
although no bilingual has been found to prove it. The evidence is
cited in BSOAS, x, 599-605.

(4) samise is here taken as an adjectival form from Sanskrit
samasyd- "combination, supplementation". As rahdsaa- "secret" is
made from rahasa- "a secret" derived from Sanskrit rahasya- by
Prakrit changes, so here samasya-ka- has been changed to samisaa-
with the Khotanese change of -a- by -j>-umlaut to -1- (familiar for
example in dista "in the hand" from *dastay-d). Earlier the passage
was not clear (see BSOAS, x, 601).

Verse 7

(1) misdi "gracious" is used of royalty, connected with Avestan
mizda-, Zor. Pahl. mizd, Ossetic Digoron mizd. The oblique case
occurs in Or 11344.7.1 misddm gyastina "from the gracious god
(= king)"; for the vocative mdsddna is used.
Verse 8

(1) pvistyedd has been taken as the participle pvtsta- with -ya-
suffix and the 3rd person of "to be". The -edd can be compared with
Stael-Holstein 52 hdrvaidd "they grow".

(2) ttayi si will be a Chinese title. The same word occurs in
P 2786.71 beside 69 maista si, and in Ch. 00270 {Khotanese Texts,

3 g A locust's leg

II, 48) 6, 8; with the gen. plur. Ch. 00269.115 ttayq-sdm. In writing
Chinese Khotanese i and s are not always kept distinct (as when
Chin, son "mountain" is written with both s and s in Khotanese).
This ttayi-si could therefore be identical with ttaya-si, plur. ttaisya
which renders Sanskrit bhiksu "mendicant" (P 5538 b 1; 43). It was
proposed to see here the Chinese ^ 6f K 952.893 t'ai-si "great

teacher".

(3) mdtsara is Sanskrit mdtsarya- "jealousy, avarice".

(4) the month raruya- is the second month of the summer season
of two months. The calendar is treated in BSOS, viii, 930-3 in a
comment on Siddhasara 3 r 5 ff.

Verse 9

In byata ham- "be remembered" we have a phrase to set beside
bydta yan- "to remember" and byata with tsu- "go" and jsd "go".
The compound Stein E 1.33 b 3 bydta-tddataru is from *abiydta-
krtatara-. The phrases bydvajsdve and tsidd occur in Ch. ii 004, 2 r 1
{KBT, 144).

COUTUMES FUNERAIRES DE
L'ARACHOSIE ANCIENNE

Par E. BENVENISTE

Le premier chapitre du Videvdat presente successivement les pro-
vinces de l'lran comme produites par une creation d'Ahura Mazdah
aussitot suivie par une contre-creation d'Ahra Manyu. Chaque fois
que le dieu supreme fait naitre un pays et le dote d'un avantage, le
principe adverse y introduit une calamite. Dans cette enumeration,
qui parcourt de l'Est a l'Ouest seize pays, l'Arachosie, c'est-a-dire la
province actuelle de Qandahar en Afghanistan, occupe la dixieme
place, et fait l'objet du paragraphe suivant:

dasdimm asanhamca soidranqnica vahistdm frddwarssdtn azam yd
ahuro mazdd harax v aitim srirqm (srdSwo.drafsqm) dat ahe pait-
ydrstn frdkarantat anro mainyus pouru.mahrko aya andpdrdQa
syaoOna yd nasu.spaya
"Le dixieme des lieux et des pays excellents que je creai, moi,
Ahura Mazda, fut la belle Harax v ati. Afigra Mainyu, plein de
mort, repondit en creant ce fleau : un crime inexpiable, 1'inhuma-
tion des morts" (trad. Darmesteter). 1

Ce texte definit d'un mot le peche qu'Ahra Manyu a installe en
Arachosie, c'est l'"inhumation des morts", nasu-spaya. Cette pratique
est condamnee au nom des usages zoroastriens. A. Christensen com-
mente clairement ce passage:

"Le fleau de l'Arachosie etait le nasuspaya, l'enterrement des
cadavres. Pour les zoroastriens l'exposition des cadavres sur le
daxma etait de rigueur. Plusieurs passages du Vendidad (3.41;
6.3) et un passage metrique du Yasna (65.8) font allusion au
peche inexpiable de l'enterrement. . . . Le terme nasuspaya- est
rendu correctement, dans le Vd. phi. et le Bd. ir., par nasdy-

1 ZA. II, p. 12.

4 o

a locust's leg

niydnih. lis professent une mauvaise religion, et cela (l'enterre-
ment) est chez eux conforme a la loi, dit le Vd. phi." 1
Cette interpretation du texte du Videvdat est celle de tous les
traducteurs et commentateurs 2 de l'Avesta. Sur ce point il n'y a
jamais eu variation depuis l'origine, puisque la version pehlevie rend
nasuspaya- par nasd-nikdnih. Dans les etudes sur les religions ira-
niennes, le present passage se trouve cite parmi ceux qui mentionnent
la coutume non-zoroastrienne de l'inhumation.

Cependant, si general que soit 1' accord sur le sens du texte et si
bien fondees que semblent les conclusions qu'on en tire sur les cou-
tumes et les croyances de l'Arachosie, nous devons mettre en question
le point essentiel: nasuspaya- designe-t-il 1' "inhumation des morts"?
II faut observer d'abord que pour certaines notions de grande
importance dans la pratique ou dans les croyances, le vocabulaire de
l'Avesta est relativement strict; il ne multiplie pas les expressions.
II y avait deja un terme consacre pour dire "inhumer un mort", c'est
ni-kan-, dont les exemples sont constants et se presentent justement
dans le Videvdat, quand il est question de la souillure causee par le
contact des morts: yd nars iririduso . . . zame kahrpa nikainti "celui qui
enterre le corps d'un mort" Vd. Ill, 40; cette expression zame nikan-
"enfouir dans la terre" (un corps) revient plusieurs fois (ibid. Ill,
12, 36; VII, 47); aeta vastra fraca karantan nica kanayan "qu'ils
dechirent et enterrent ces vetements (souilles par un mort)" (VII, 12).
En pehlevi nikan- "enterrer" est constant, de meme en moyen-perse
ngn- "enterrer" 3 et aussi hors de la tradition zoroastrienne, ossete
nlgaen- "enterrer" (un mort)". 4 A priori la langue du rituel avestique
n'avait pas besoin d'un deuxieme terme pour cette notion, quand
nikan- 1'enoncait clairement.

On peut done presumer que nasuspaya- ne dit pas la meme chose
que nikan- "enterrer". Que signifie-t-il alors? La question vaut aussi
pour l'adjectif nasuspa-. Cela revient a se demander ce que signifie -spa-,
spaya- et la racine spa-. Le fait surprenant est qu'on doive en traiter

1 Le premier chapitre du Vendidad et I'histoire primitive des tribus iraniennes,

1943, p. 37.

2 Depuis Justi, Handb. der Zend-Sprache, 1864, p. 170, jusqu a Nyberg,
Religionen, p. 319 et Christensen, op. cit.

3 Bailey, JRAS, 1934, p. 515; Henning, BSOS, IX, p. 85.

1 Cf nos Etudes sur la langue ossete, 1959, p. 118. La question de arm. nkan
"pain" a ete discutee par R. Gauthiot, MSL, XIX, p. 129, et J. Harmatta,
Acta Orient. Hungar., Ill, 1953, p. 245 sq.

COUTUMES FUNERAIRES DE L'ARACHOSIE

comme d'un probleme, alors que le sens de spa- est connu. Nous nous
contenterons de le rappeler a l'aide des principales formes lexicales. 1
Dans son sens materiel, av. spa- se traduira "jeter a terre, deposer
sur le sol". Le present simple n'a que des emplois metaphoriques:
"rejeter" revient ici a "effacer, faire remission (d'un delit)" dans
Vd. HI 40 sq. Mais avec preverbe le sens ressort clairement et ne
varie pas: apa-spa- "rejeter (ses vetements)"; aipi-spd- "jeter (de la
bave)"; avi-spd- "rejeter (quelqu'un aux tenebres)"; upairi-spd- "jeter
une piece sur une autre" (dispositif d'attelage^/nTZ-spa- "jeter a terre
(un adversaire)". Les formes nominales prolongent en divers com-
poses le meme sens: fraspd-yaoxaSra- est parallele a ?ii8d.stiai8is
comme qualification de Daina Mazdayasni; la deesse est niSd-SJiaidil,
elle "depose (=fait deposer) les armes"; de meme fraspd-yaoxaSra-
la montre "rejetant (=faisant rejeter) les preparatifs guerriers". Avec
le meme prefixe, -spat- prend une acception tout autre; fraspdt- figure
dans une enumeration d'objets d'ameublement: entre gdtu- "trone,
siege" et upastarana- "tapis", fraspdt- designe une tenture "jetee a
terre, deployee"; ce mot se retrouve dans sogd. man. fsp' (=faspd <
fraspd-) "a-rrAwiia, tenture repandue", 3 cf. aussi pers. farasp "tenture".
On a enfin pairi-spdti-, litt. "fait de rejeter autour" (pour les im-
puretes corporelles, Vd. VI, 29); de pari-spd- provient mp. parisp
"fosse circulaire". 4

La meme racine spa- a ete retrouvee sous la forme phonetique
previsible dans vieux-perse sd~. Jusqu'ici nous la connaissons dans
deux formes: frdsahya "a ete jete" et niyasaya (=ni-aspayai) "il a
repandu". 6 En moyen-iranien, le theme ni-spaya- est continue par
m.parthe nyspy- nysp't- "mettre (le genou) en terre", cf. sogd.
'sp'tz'nwk- "agenomlle".

Cette revue de donnees bien etablies montre a 1'evidence que
spa- n'a jamais pu signifier "enfouir, enterrer". Le seul sens constate
partout est "jeter, deposer a terre". II s'ensuit strictement que
nasuspaya-, nasuspa- doit se traduire "qui depose (ou jette) le cadavre".

1 Nous ne jugeons pas utile de reproduire pour chaque forme avestique les
exemples aisement accessibles et correctement traduits chez Bartholomae.

2 Le sens est examine 1 chez I. Gershevitch, The Avestan Hymn to Mithra,
1959, p. 275, ou on trouvera les formes dialectales modernes probablement
apparentees (yidg. awusp, etc.).

a Cf. Henning, BSOAS, XII, p. 314 sq.

4 "parisp eigentlichwohl 'Umwurf ' " (Bartholomae, Z. Air. W.b., p. 85, n.2).

B Pour le detail de la demonstration, voir BSL, 47 (1951), p. 24-5.

A LOCUST S LEG

Cette interpretation, qui rompt avec la tradition, peut d'abord sur-
prendre; elle est la seule possible. L'etonnant est plutot qu'on ne l'ait
pas encore reconnue. Cela est si vrai que Bartholomae, tout en
traduisant ?iasuspd- comme ses devanciers ("Leichen ein-, vergrabend,
der die Siinde des Leichenvergrabens begeht"), marque en note un
scrupule: "Et.? Bedeutet nasu-spd- vll. eig. 'Leichen hinwerfend'?"
(Air. Wb. 1060). II a bien vu que nasu-spaya- -spa- pouvait materielle-
ment s'expliquer par spa- "jeter"; mais alors il fallait abandonner la
traduction habituelle, car si on la garde, nasuspa- n'a plus d'etymologie
connue. De la l'hesitation de Bartholomae: devait-il renoncer a une
etymologie evidente ou changer sa traduction?

C'est la traduction de nasuspaya- qu'il faut changer. Pour
achever de s'en convaincre, on lira la prescription de Vd. VI, 3 sq. qui
est une sorte de definition du terme:

yezi mazdayasna tarn zani kdrayan yezi apo harazayan yat ahmi

spdnasca narasca para.iridinti antardt naemat yara.drajo nasu-

spaem pascaeta dstryante aete yoi mazdayasna apasca zamasca

urvaraydsca "Si des Mazdeens, sur une terre ou hommes ou

chiens sont morts, repandent des semences ou lachent Feau

(d'irrigation) dans le delai d'un an, alors ces Mazdeens commettent

le peche de nasuspaya- envers les eaux, la terre et les plantes".

Ainsi le fait d'ensemencer ou d'irriguer une terre sur laquelle

sont morts hommes ou chiens est assimile a un nasuspaya envers les

eaux, la terre et les plantes. Le fondement de cette assimilation est le

contact du corps mort avec les elements qui se trouvent a la surface

du sol, la terre meme, les eaux, les graines, puisque le terrain en

question est celui sur lequel ont repose des cadavres. Tel etait le

peche du nasuspaya: cette pratique consistait a "jeter le mort sur le

sol", ce qui, aux yeux des Mazdeens, souillait par contamination

directe la terre, les eaux et les plantes a la fois, tandis que, dans

l'inhumation, le corps ne touche que la terre. C'est pourquoi le

nasuspa- est mis au rang des brigands, meurtriers, sorciers, etc.

(Y.65.8); seule Daina Mazdayasni peut accorder remission d'un tel

peche a celui qui fait profession de foi mazdeenne (Vd. Ill, 41).

Done "jeter sur le sol", non "enfouir dans la terre", qui, on l'a
vu, se dit zarne nikan-. La difference est capitale; elle correspond a
deux pratiques funeraires distinctes. Celle de 1'Arachosie, le nasu-
spaya, se defmit ainsi par le sens litteral de Pexpression. Mais ni le
terme ni la coutume n'etaient connus des Mazdeens qui ont traduit

COUTUMES FUNERAIRES DE L ARACHOSIE

l'Avesta en pehlevi. Ceux-ci vivaient a une epoque ou les rites
funeraires etaient codifies; pour eux il y avait une pratique orthodoxe,
l'exposition sur le daxma, et une coutume interdite, l'inhumation.
lis ont done rendu nasuspaya par nasd-nikdnth, "inhumation du
corps", employ ant le meme equivalent nikan- que pour traduire av.
nikan- "inhumer" (p. ex. Vd. Ill, 36), sans tenir compte du terme
different. II faut retablir contre eux la traduction exacte de nasuspaya
qui revele en Arachosie un usage specifique.

Cette donnee a pour nous la valeur d'un temoignage authentique
sur une region dont nous ne savons presque rien a date ancienne,
sinon qu'elle etait de langue et de culture iranienne. Nous apprenons
que 1'Arachosie, dans le traitement accorde aux morts, ne s'accordait
avec aucune des autres contrees de Flran ancien. La diversite des
usages funeraires constitue, on le sait, un des problemes les plus
discutes sur ce domaine; 1 les trouvailles archeologiques sont ici
souvent en conflit avec le temoignage des textes. 2 Suivant les regions
de l'lran, les epoques et, semble-t-il, les conditions sociales, les rites
ont varie de la cremation a l'inhumation ou a l'exposition sur les
daxmas. On peut meme saisir des contradictions sur ce point entre les
parties de l'Avesta. 3 Le tableau devient plus composite encore, si
Ton y fait entrer le nasuspaya d' Arachosie. Cet usage, qui n'etait
atteste pour aucune autre province iranienne, 4 a ete observe au-
jourd'hui en maints pays, on le considere comme la maniere la plus
ancienne ou la plus "primitive" de disposer des corps; 5 le mort est
"jete" sur le sol, et apparemment les os ne sont pas recueillis apres la
consomption des chairs. Ce devait etre la pour un Mazdeen le peche
inexpiable: que les ossements fussent abandonnes sur place, et non
preserves dans un astoddna. II est difficile d'en rien conclure quant a
la religion pratiquee en Arachosie. Des pratiques non mazdeennes
sont mentionnees pour d'autres pays aussi dans la liste de Vd. I. Mais
l'histoire des croyances et l'ethnographie de l'lran ancien devront en
tout cas enregistrer cette nouvelle definition du nasuspaya d' Arachosie.

1 Voir notamment Herzfeld, Archaeological History of Iran, p. 31 sq.

2 Un cimetiere de date probablement achemenide a et<§ decouvert en 1939
a Persepolis et decrit, avec un apercu general du probleme, par E. F. Schmidt,
Persepolis, II, 1957, p. 115 sq.

3 Cf. Nyberg, op. cit., p. 321.

4 Sur les usages attribues aux Bactriens par Onesikritos selon Strabon XI,
11,3. cf. Henning, Zoroaster, 1951, p. 21 sq.

5 II suffit de renvoyer ici a ERE (Hastings), IV, p. 420 b.

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON

By MARY BOYCE

That a difference exists between the original form of Manichaeism
and its developments in various lands was long since established by
Schaeder, who regarded the local adaptations as part of Mani's
deliberate attempt to be the "interpreter of religion" to all mankind. 1
Schaeder saw two purposes in Mani's identification of his gods with
those of other faiths: to make his own teachings more readily com-
prehensible to different peoples, and to give fresh meaning to ancient
beliefs, in which he held there to be a kernel of verity. 2 Mani, believing
as he did that the prophets who were his forerunners had taught the
truth, necessarily also thought that the gods whom they had preached
were true gods, made known to diverse people under different names.
The "translation" of the names of Manichaean gods by those of other
deities must therefore be held an attempt by him to discover his own
gods under their older, local guises. Mani's further belief, that all
earlier religions had become corrupt, implies, however, that he also
thought that the worship of their gods had grown uncertain and
confused. Evidently it was for this reason that in some instances a
single Manichaean god came to be identified with more than one
deity in an alien cult. This fact had not yet been established when
Schaeder made his study. Its workings tend, however, to disprove one
of his main contentions, namely that such local adaptations were all
part of a "bewusster und planmassiger Umstilisierung" carried
through by the prophet himself. 3 The freedom to "translate" in this
way was plainly due to Mani's own initiative, but it evidently re-
mained open also to his followers after him.

1 H. H. Schaeder, Urform und Fortbildungen des manichaischen Systems,
(1924-5), 128.

2 Ibid., 147,115.

3 Ibid., 146 (Schaeder envisaged here the likelihood that minor developments
took place after Mani's death).

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON

Schaeder further maintained that such local adaptations were
purely superficial, and that although they had a proper basis and
justification, they exerted no influence on Mani's original concep-
tions. 1 Clearly he was right in insisting that Mani's system as a whole
remained intact, in all its logic and coherence; but was it in fact
possible for his gods to be identified with powerful older deities, and
yet to remain unaffected by their ancient cults? In this short article it
is proposed to examine this question, in considering the local influence
on Manichaeism of one god, the Iranian Mithra.

Mithra came to be identified with two Manichaean gods. Among
the Sasanian Persians his name was used to render that of the Living
Spirit. It was earlier suggested that the identifying factor in this case
was the common function of demiurge, attested however for Mithra
only in one Greek text. 2 One of the Sogdian names for the Living
Spirit, "Lord of the Seven Climes", 3 stresses the importance in
Manichaean myth of this god's function as maker of the world.
Nevertheless the evidence now supplied by the Coptic Kephalaia and
Psalm-Book makes it probable that it was rather as a warrior-god and
conqueror of the powers of evil that he was identified with Mithra.
Mithra himself, as god of the Contract, 4 was regarded as a defender of
the truth, and hence a foe to treachery and to false gods. His many
weapons rain down upon "the evil heads of evil gods" (kamdra^e
paiti daevanqm), 5 and his worshippers invoke him as the "head-
smasher of evil gods" (kamaraSo.janam daevanqm), e the "engager of
witches" (hamaestaram pairikanqtn), 1 one "from whom the Fiendish
Spirit, very deadly, recoils in fear . . . from whom all supernatural
evil gods . . . recoil in fear" {yahmat haca jratdrdsaiti awro mainyus
pouru.mahrko . . . yahmat haca fratdrdsdnti vispe mainyava daeva). 8 He

1 Ibid., 145-6.

8 See Schaeder, op. cit. 104 n.; further W. B. Henning, in Mir. Man. i 177
n.3; OLZ 1934, 7 n.2; I. Gershevitch, The Avestan Hymn to Mithra (1959),
210-12.

8 See Henning, "A Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony",
BSOAS XII 2 (1948), 314.

4 See most recently P. Thieme, Mitra and Aryaman (1957); Gershevitch,
op. cit., introduction.

6 Mihr Yast 129-33 (the citations from this yast are here given in general
in Gershevitch's translation).

MY. 26.

' Ibid.

8 MY. 97 (cf. 68, 93, 99,134).

46 A locust's leg

acquires the secondary aspect of a god of war, and is hailed as the

"warrior endowed with strength of arm" {bdzus.aojamhdm radaestqm). 1

In Manichaeism the Living Spirit was likewise a great warrior-god,

who smote the demons, and slew great numbers of them, and fettered

others. He was "[the beginning] of all warriors", 2 "the subduer of all

the sons of the abyss". 3 He "made war with them; he subdued their

camps; he hurt their height". 4 As Mithra overthrows the false ruler, 8

so the Living Spirit attacked "the rebels of the world". He "fettered

the tyrants of the earth, he took from them their kingdom ... he caused

them to be led away to the punishment ... he wrest from them their

power". 7 In that he was the first conqueror of the demons, he is

justly linked with Mithra, "the most victorious of the gods" (vdrdBra-

jqstemo yazatanqin). % Both are "the fetterers of untruth" (anrtasya

se'tii). 9

Another secondary aspect of Mithra, that of sun-god, had come
to be prominent in his cult by the Christian era; and plainly it would
have been difficult to identify with him at this period a warrior-god
unconnected with the sun. 10 According to Manichaean doctrine,
however, the Living Spirit both made the sun in the beginning, and
occupied thereafter one of the three thrones within it. 11 The two gods
had enough in common, therefore, to make a formal identification
possible. It seems likely, however, that this identification was largely
a paper one, for there were two obstacles to its being whole-heartedly
accepted by converts. Firstly, the Living Spirit had his station in the
west, 12 the quarter of the setting sun, whose going down brought the
dreaded dark, and symbolized for the Manichaeans the end of the

'MY. 25 (cf. 140).

2 Kephalaia 43 36 .

3 Psalm-Book 2 s " 4 .

4 Ibid. 21 2 1 "- 11 .
6 MY. 111.

6 Psalm-Booh 212°-'.
' Ibid. 212 14 " 18 .

8 MY. 98.

9 RV. 7.65.3a (see Thieme, op. cit. 52); on the ethical aspect of Mithra's
attacks see Thieme, op. cit. 28, 51.

10 That the Sasanian Persians should have been alone in not worshipping
Mithra under this aspect (see Gershevitch, op. cit., p. 41) is hard to believe. As
Gershevitch points out (ibid., p. 38), the ancient association of the god with the
sun led almost inevitably to his worship as a solar deity.

11 See TM 291 (W.-L. i 49-50); Keph. 82 31 .

12 See Mir. Man. i 177 n 3; W.-L. ii 546.

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON 47

world. 1 It must have been hard, therefore, to identify him with
Mithra, god of the dawn. 2 Secondly, his task as conqueror of demons
was accomplished before the world began. He was not, like Mithra, a
god intervening actively in the affairs of men, and did not, therefore,
receive constant devotions. No hymns survive addressed to him. 3

It was the gods of the Manichaean Third Creation, the re-
deemers, who gave present help to man; and it so happened that the
first of these, the Third Messenger, had traits which gave him also
strong claims to be recognized as the true Mithra. He too, like all the
redeeming gods, was a warrior, a "battle-stirrer" (razmyoz), for ever
fighting against evil. He too was linked with the sun; he had set it in
motion, and he had the first throne within it. Moreover, the belief
that he dwelt in the sun is given prominence in his worship, in Egypt
as in Iran, whereas for the Living Spirit this is a secondary feature,
barely recorded in the surviving texts. The Third Messenger was
moreover assigned to the quarter of the east, of the rising sun. 4 In his
own Psalm, Wazurgdn Afrvwan, Mani invokes him as "Beautiful
East!"; 5 and in a Middle Persian fragment he is hailed as the dawn:
"The *morning-light and dawn is come, the radiant Light from the
east. Imposingly the King has appeared, God Narisah" [amad *wazeh
ltd bdmddd, rosn ispixt az hwardsdn. Bud payddg sahenehdh, sahriydr,
yazd Narisah). 6 Further, he was constantly and daily concerned with
human activities, and is invoked in many hymns.

The Third Messenger was, however, for good and apparent
reasons, identified among the Sasanians with Nairyosanha (Narisah,
Narisaf), the Zoroastrian messenger-god. Both deities filled the part
of envoy from God to man — the Manichaean Messenger as the first

1 Keph. 165 1 - 15 .

2 On Mithra as god of the dawn see Gershevitch, op. cit., pp. 31-2, 319-20.

3 The two hymns concerned with the god in the Coptic Psalm-Booh
21 1—3 are not addressed to him; and the entry under Spiritus Vivens in Boyce,
A Catalogue of the Iran. MSS. in Man. Script in the German Turfan Collection,
p. 148, is a mistake. The hymn in question is addressed to sun and moon.

4 M 470 R 14—15 (HR ii 19), where he is given the descriptive appellation
Rosnsahryazd, also used in Parthian (see Mir. Man. iii 883 n 8); M 583 I V 7-9
(W.-L. ii 546).

6 Publication in preparation; the relevant passage is given by Henning
"Brahman", TPS 1944, 112-3.

6 See Mir. Man. i 192 n 6. M 5260 (T II D 66) is a missing fragment,
otherwise unrecorded; but in the light of Parthian parallels it is probable that the
lines quoted are the opening words of an abecedarian hymn to the Third
Messenger.

A LOCUST S LEG

of the redeeming gods. The Third Messenger was further believed to
have shown himself naked to the demons in the skies, so that it was in
his image that mankind was made. This myth was of great importance
in the Manichaean version of genesis, and the Coptic texts concerning
the Third Messenger contain repeated references to it. A remotely
similar myth was told of Nairyosaraha. 1 Moreover, the Commagene
inscription, with its linking of Helios and Hermes, suggests a connec-
tion between an oriental messenger-god and the sun. The identifica-
tion with Nairyosaraha thus covered three aspects of the Third
Messenger, two of which, envoy and prototype of humanity, have no
counterpart in Mithra. 2

Nevertheless, the similarities between the Third Messenger and
Mithra were evidently so strong that the Manichaean missionaries to
Parthia felt that they could not be set aside. Accordingly, they 3
abandoned the earlier identification of the Living Spirit with Mithra,
and identified the Third Messenger with both Mithra and Nairyo-
saraha. Plainly they believed that among the Parthians the great
Manichaean god was being confusedly worshipped as two deities.
Later still, the Sogdians, who received Manichaeism from the
Parthians, identified with Nairyosaraha the Manichaean "Second
Messenger", 4 the Friend of the Lights. Three reasons suggest them-
selves for this fresh identification. Firstly, it is probable that in
Iranian minds there was a clear distinction between Mithra and
Nairyosaraha, and a reluctance to confound them in one god. 5 Second-
ly, the Manichaean Friend of the Lights was a minor divinity in the
cult, as was Nairyosaraha (at least in orthodox Zoroastrianism).
Thirdly — and chiefly, from the point of view of the present study —

1 See F. Cumont, Recherches sur le manicheisme 34, 61 ff.; Mir. Man. i 192
n.6; Gershevitch, op. cit., pp. 205-6.

2 The various attempts made since Cumont's (op. cit., 63) to identify
Mithra with Gayomard have failed to carry general conviction.

3 It seems probable that the missionaries in question were Mar Ammo and
his companions, Ammo being the father of the eastern church. It seems hardly
justifiable to suppose that the new identification necessarily took place after
Mani's death (Gershevitch, op. cit., p. 40). It had, or should have had, no effect
on Manichaean dogma; and the evidence suggests that the prophet was flexible
in such matters, which must have been for him of minor importance.

4 Chinese Hymnscroll 125 a (W.-L. ii 486, 500). On the identification see
W.-L. i 40 ff.; Henning, OLZ 1934, 6 ff.

5 Again, the various attempts made since Cumont's (op. cit., 63 n 4) to
establish an identification of Nairyosanha with Mithra have failed to win
general assent.

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON

although the myth of the seduction of the Archontes had its proper
place in Iranian renderings of the Manichaean scriptures, it is given
little emphasis in the surviving Parthian hymns to the Third Messen-
ger. In only one of these is there an unambiguous reference to it. 1
Otherwise it is indirectly evoked by allusions to the beauty of the god,
the "fair shape" (zaben pddgirb), 2 the "lovely apparition" (*gonydg
didan), 3 the "bright form" (cihrag rosn).^ The "radiance and beauty"
(bam ud agrdyt) 5 of the god's appearance in the sky is, however, the
one aspect of the seduction-myth which blends readily with his
worship as Mithra. These allusions, therefore, together with the
general character of the hymns, suggest that among the Parthians the
dominance of Mithra was such that his identification with the Third
Messenger led to cultic emphasis on the Mithraic traits in the Mani-
chaean god. This must have smoothed the way for the Sogdians to
abandon the earlier identification with NairySsaraha, the features
which supported it having become subordinate in the imagination of
worshippers.

Mithra' s influence went further, however, than causing an
emphasis on traits common to the two gods. It also brought about the
transfer to the Third Messenger of functions peculiar to Mithra. The
most striking result of this process is that the Third Messenger
became a sun-god among the Parthians. Several pieces of evidence
survive to show that he was not conceived as one originally. Firstly,
although Mani ordained reverence for the sun, both as a symbol and
"the gate of Life", he did not teach worship for it as a personal god. 6
Its fashioning by the Living Spirit is recorded in the myth; with its
walls and gates, dwellings and thrones, 7 it, like the moon, formed a
halting-place for souls on their journey back to Paradise, and a
circling castle for the redeeming gods. Secondly, in Mani's own
Wazurgan Afriwan, the words "Beautiful East" are the only surviving
ones which in any way link the Third Messenger with the sun.

1 M 737, 1-4 (BSOAS XIII 4, 1951, p. 915).

2 M 32 V 8-9 (HR ii 64).

3 Mir. Man. iii n 16.

i Ibid., n 30 (that a reference to the Third Messenger is here intended is
not wholly certain).

5 Mir. Man. i, p. 183, line 6.

6 Keph. 158 31 ; cf. Mir. Man. iii n 32-3, and for further references ibid.,
p. 887, n.5.

' See M 98 R 11-17 (HR ii 37); Mir. Man. i, p. 178, lines 8-9.

5°

A LOCUST S LEG

Thirdly, there is the fact of the god's initial identification in Iran,
not with the solar deity Mithra, but with Nairyosanha. Fourthly, in
the Coptic texts the Third Messenger is frequently invoked as living
in the sun, but is given no solar attributes. The Coptic evidence
appears more reliable than the Iranian for the original nature of this
god, since among converts from Christianity there was no suitable
deity with whom to identify him, and hence no ancient cult to
influence his worship.

In the Coptic Kephalaia there is a whole discourse devoted to
the sun. 1 Similar homiletic texts existed in Parthian, but fragments
only survive. Strikingly, the closest extant Parthian parallels to the
Kephalaia chapter come from hymns dedicated to the Third Messen-
ger. In the Kephalaia discourse are set out the "seven benefactions"
of the sun. These are physical or symbolic benefits conferred by the
heavenly body in its orbit. Six of these seven benefactions are attri-
buted to the Third Messenger in two unpublished Parthian hymns
addressed to him. 2 Both hymns begin, like the Middle Persian one
already cited, by hailing the Third Messenger as the dawn: "The
Light is come, and near the dawn! Arise, brethren, give praise!"
(agad rosn ud nazd bdmddd, dxezed, brddardn, dahed istdwisn); 3 and
"The Light is come, and near the Leader (nazd wdddg). Arise,
brethren, give praise!" 4 Then follow verses of praise and exhortation,
in which the parallels to the Coptic text occur without any order. The
first benefaction of the sun given in the Kephalaia is that "it opens the
eyes of all men ... it takes from them the blindness of Night". 5
When the Third Messenger "has come to the world" (6 sahr agad), 6
men are urged: "*Abandon sleep, awake, behold the Light which is
drawn near!" (xwamr kared *wigamift, abar wigrdsed, wened rosn ke
nazd agad). 1 They declare: "We shall forget the dark Night" (sab
syaioag bawdm frdmust). 8 The sun's second benefaction is that it takes
away, with the darkness, fear. 9 The Messenger "takes away fear"

1 Keph. LXV.

2 Both in M 30 (publication in preparation, see Boyce, Catalogue).

3 M 30, 87-8.

4 M 30, 49-50.

6 Keph. 159 18 - 21 .
c M 30, 78.

7 M 30, 75-7.

8 M 30, 96-7.

9 Keph. 159 22 - 27 .

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON

5 1

(tars izgirwed). 1 Thirdly, at the sun's coming all men rise up from
sleep. 2 When the Messenger, the Light, appears, then "spirits, souls
and all creatures look upon him and arise from (their) fall" (gydndn
griwan ud wisp ddmdddan pad hau wenend ud az kafisn padrazend). 3
Fourthly, the sun draws out the strength and savour of all trees and
fruits and plants. 4 This has no parallel in the surviving verses to the
Third Messenger. Fifthly, when the sun shines "the evil snakes and
the sharp-fanged beasts . . . run to hiding in their caves". 5 When the
Messenger appears "all the sons of Darkness hide" (nigozend harwin
tdrig zddag)f "all the demons, wild beasts and vermin are afraid,
they depart afar off from him" (harwin yaxsdn daddn ud dewagan
tirsend, az hau diir beh abnamend). 1 Sixthly, the sun by its shining
heals wounds and defeats black magic. 8 The Messenger "gives health
and joy to the world . . . and puts an end to pain" (drod ud rdmisn
uxad o sahr kared . . . ud dard atigdtued). 9 Seventhly, the sun "displays
and reveals to the world the sign of the glory of the Aeon of Light". 10
With the coming of the Messenger "the sign of the lofty realm has
become apparent, and all who have eyes, perceive" (burz sahrddrift
nisdn pay dag, ud izwdrend ke biid cahmoar). 11

It appears from this comparison of texts that the sun-worshipping
Iranians who came to accept Manichaeism found the doctrine of the
sun as symbol and impersonal benefactor inadequate, and fused
reverence for it with worship of the Messenger as dweller in the sun
and in the east; whereas Coptic converts, with no predisposition to
worship a personal sun-god, kept more strictly to Mani's original
teachings.

In the Parthian hymns, where this development is most marked,
the two strands of belief, orthodox and heterodox, are clearly visible.

1 M30, 111.
"Keph. 159 28 - 3 ".

3 M 30, 107-9.

4 Keph. 160 1 - 3 .
6 Keph. 160 4 - 6 .

6 M 30, 83; cf. Mir. Man. iii m 23-5 (which, in the light of M 30, is
probably rather to be translated: "The sons of Darkness are conquered upon
earth; the sons of Day, awakened, praise thee").

7 M 30, 112-4.
a Keph. 160 7 -°.
°M30, 110-11, 116.

10 Keph. 160 10 - 11 .

11 M 30, 105-6.

A LOCUST S LEG

According to the one, the Third Messenger appears, as in the Coptic
texts, as a god living in the sun, together with the Mother of Life, the
Living Spirit, and the mighty "pearl-gathering" Fathers. 1 According
to the other, he is the very sun itself, the "bright Lamp" (lamter
nisag), 2 the "Illuminer" (rosnagar) 3 "the radiance and brightness of
the world of seven climes" (bam . . . ud nisdglft ce haft kisfar zambu-
dig)J His light "shines in every land and region" (tdbedpad harw sahr
udpddgos)^ and from him come "all the rays ... in the whole world"
(harwin fraddb . . . pad hamag zambudig). 6 Further, the zone of
heaven is divided "according to (his) course" (anwdy . . . camag), 7
and he "passes on high through those six thresholds, he shines light
upon earth through those twelve gates" (az abar earned pad hawin suh
dstdnag, tabed rosn 6 zamig pad hawin dwddes bar an). s His course is
"ever from the north to the east, from the east to the south, from the
south to the west" (ad . . . az abdxtar 5 hzvardsdn, az hwardsdn o
nemroS, ud az nemroz o hzoarnifrdn). 9

There can be little doubt that the development by which the
Third Messenger thus became a sun-god is to be attributed to his
identification with Mithra as he was worshipped in the early centuries
of the Christian era. In his own yast, composed in about the fifth
century B.C., Mithra is not presented as a sun-god, but only as a
deity closely associated with the sun. 10 Even so there are some
natural coincidences with the Manichaean texts, Coptic and Iranian.
Mithra too illumines the world each dawn, and he too by so doing
baffles the workings of evil: "In the morning (he) brings into evidence
the many shapes" (paoiris vaeiSis suram frdSditi), 11 he comes forward
"to cross the pleasure of the Falsehood-owning Fiendish Spirit"

1 Mir. Man. iii n 21-3.

2 M 32 R 5 (HR ii 62).

3 Mir. Man. iii o 6, 35, 55 ( = cpcocmip, used of the sun, Keph. 159 8 . 16 , 160 1G ,
163 17 ). The epithet rosnagar is also found of Mani himself, the "Illuminer" of
the spiritual sphere {Mir. Man. iii g 193). Cf. the similar use of epeocrnip in the
Coptic texts, passim.

i Mir. Man. iii o 7-9.

6 Ibid., o 10-12.
Ibid., m 12-14.

7 Ibid., o 34-5.

8 Ibid., o 36-40.

9 Ibid., o 65-9.

10 See Gershevitch, op. cit., intro. 35-40.

11 MY. 142, cf. 13.

ON MITHRA IN THE MANICHAEAN PANTHEON

(tarasca anrahe mainyaus drvato zaosq). 1 He has the epithet "making
plants grow" (uxsyat.urvaram). 2

In addition to his function of sun-god, there are older aspects of
Mithra, better attested in his yast, which also had their influence on
the Parthian cult of the Third Messenger. As the god of Contract,
Mithra was ever-vigilant, speeding over the world by day and night 3
to watch the true man and the traitor. He "flies" (fravazaite)^ he is
"fast among the fast" (dsunqm dsus), 5 "the swiftest of the gods, the
fastest of the gods" (yd Owaxsisto yazatanqm, yo dsis to yazatanqm). 6
The Third Messenger likewise was very swift in his going. As the
sun he "hastened with zeal" (nidfurd pad abrang); 1 but his "spirit-
course" (gydnen camag) is described as "faster than thought, swifter
than the wind blows, more hasty than the night at eve" (tvr agistor az
parmanag, r agistor az wad wazed, nidfurdistar az sab pad sdm). s This,
although it accords with the ancient conception of Mithra, has no
particular relevance to the character of the Manichaean god. The
vigilant Mithra is further worshipped as having "a thousand percep-
tions" (hazawa.yaoxstim)* "ten thousand eyes" (baevara.cas-
mamm).™ In Parthian the Third Messenger has become "the
thousand-eyed" (hazdr-casm) 11 —^ striking new attribute for the
prototype of man.

As the guardian of Contract Mithra is hailed as the "temporal
and religious judge of living beings" (ahum ratumca gaeOanqm). 12 The
Third Messenger was not, according to Manichaean doctrine, a judge;
and although the ready transference of epithets from one Manichaean
god to another makes it feasible that he should borrow this function
from Jesus, yet it is striking that it is only in the Parthian hymns that
he is so invoked, and there repeatedly. In them he is called "the

'MY. 118.
a MY. 61.

3 See Gershevitch, op. cit., intro. 31.

4 MY. 99.

5 MY. 65.

6 MY. 98.

7 Mir. Man. iii o 69-70.

8 Ibid., o 12-16.

9 MY. 35, cf. 107.

10 MY. 7, cf. 91, 141.

11 Mir. Man. iii n 19.

12 MY. 92; cf. 79, and see Gershevitch, op. cit., p. 223.

54 A LOCUST S LEG

Leader, the Judge" (wdddg, razwar), 1 "the Shepherd, the Judge"
(gehban, razwar), 2 "the Judge in earth and heaven" (dadbar . . . pad
zamig ud asman). 3 His course through the sky is "the course of the
Judge" {razwar camag). i Moreover, he is twice hailed as being both
"judge and witness" (dadbar ud wigdh). s This has no parallel in the
Mihr Yah itself, but appears to spring naturally from the concept of
Mithra as both enforcer of justice and "inspector and supervisor" of
the world (hardtdrdmca aiwydxstdr9?nca), B the one who surveys
"guilt and non-guilt" from his throne on high. 7 It is not readily
comprehensible in terms of Manichaean dogma.

There is thus little doubt that, had an Egyptian Manichaean
been able to join in the Parthian invocations of the Third Messenger,
he would have found himself worshipping a god transformed. Yet
probably he would have been perplexed rather than immediately
shocked by this heterodoxy; for despite alien traits, the god remained
essentially Manichaean, one of the compassionate redeemers of the
Light. Those characteristics of Mithra's which were not consonant
with Mani's teachings — the god's fierceness towards erring men, his
granting of material favours, his succour in physical war — failed to
attach themselves to the Third Messenger. His functions of sun-god,
vigilant watcher, and judge of truth harmonized readily with Mani-
chaean doctrine, and their transference to the Third Messenger
demanded little more than a "regrouping" of dogma (the expression
is Schaeder's). The essence of Mani's teachings remained intact; but
this local development shows that even he, the most literate of the
prophets, could not wholly prevent distortion of his carefully-
enshrined doctrine. It also shows the power of the Iranian Mithra,
who thus set his bright and ancient stamp on the intruding Mani-
chaean god.

1 Mir. Man. iii n 38.

2 Ibid., m 50-1.

3 Ibid., m 10-11.

4 Ibid., o 24.

5 Ibid., n 18, m 10-12.
"MY. 103.

7 RV. 5.62.8 (Thieme, op. tit., p. 69).

DIE ALTIRANISCHE VORFORM DES VASPUHR

Von WILHELM EILERS

In der Keilschrifturkunde BE X 15 aus Babylon vom ersten Jahre
Darius' II. (= 423 v. Chr.) ist von Feldern die Rede (Z. 3f.) U
^gi-ri-su-a-kar-ra-nu 1 u lli a-lik-ma-dak-ta sd bit u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u 2
sd ina dl qasti 3 u ina muh-hi ndr Nam-gar-Diir- d Ellil. Diese Liegen-
schaften, an einem Kanalufer gelegen, sind zugewiesen oder gehoren
einer Gruppe von Leuten, die als gi-ri-su-a-kar-ra-nu und a-lik-ma-
dak-ta bezeichnet werden, 4 die ihrerseits wieder dem Hause oder
Gebiete der u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u in einer bestimmten Siedlung zuge-
teilt sind. Von diesen Gruppen sind die gi-ri-su-a-kar-ra-nu dem
Worte nach eindeutig Iranier, wohl nach ihrem Berufe genannt, der
sie als *girisva'kara d.h. als "Macher" oder "Besorger" von etwas
uns Unbekanntem bezeichnet. 5 Die Endung -arm ist der spat-
akkadische Plural, wie er auch in anderen iranischen Wortern begeg-
net. 6 Die Erklarung des Vordergliedes *girisva- oder wie immer wir

1 Julius Augapfel, Babylonische Rechtsurkunden aus der Regierungszeit Arta-
xerxes' I. und Darius' II. (Wien 1917; = Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-Histor. Kl. 59,3) p. 58 irrig ama >'mut-ru-su-a-tir-ra-
nu. Vgl. auch CAD V (1956) p. 89a.

2 Augapfel a.a.O. liest dies sd bit Sam-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u und ilbersetzt: "des
Hauses Sammasupitru", halt das Wort also offenbar fur einen mit dem semi-
tischen Sonnengott Samas zusammengesetzten Mannesnamen, obwohl der
Personenkeil davor fehlt.

3 Das ware der landliche Mittelpunkt des "Bogenlandes", unter Umstanden
als Ortsname u™GIS.BAN aufzufassen.

4 Ohne Erklarung G. Cardascia, Les Archives des Murasu (Paris 1951),
p. 128 1 .

s Berufsnamen auf -kara sind schon altiranisch haufig; vgl. fur die
neubabylonischen Tafeln Eilers, Iranische Beamtennamen in der keilschriftlichen
Uberlieferung I (1940), pp. 54 6 und 77 1 . In den neuveroffentlichten Urkunden
aus Agypten (s. Eilers in AfO 17, 1954-6, p. 333) finden sich der hamdra'kara,
der patikara'kara und unklare b dykrn (Plural ?). Weitere — allerdings nicht
immer sicher zu deutende — Falle liefern die elamischen Tafeln von Persepolis
(bei G. G. Cameron, Persepolis Treasury Tablets, 1948, pp. 44, 45 u.6.).

Beispiele bei Eilers, Beamtennamen I, p. 9 1 .

^6 a locust's leg

die iranische Form ansetzen miissen, bereitet Schwierigkeiten, die
hier nicht gelost werden konnen.

Hingegen ware es denkbar, dass das anderwarts unbekannte
a-lik ma-dak-ta babylonisch ware, etwa alik madakti "einer, der zum
Heerlager geht, der im Lager Dienst tut". 1 Ebenso Hesse sich aber statt
lik auch tas oder nr lesen, womit man zu einem iranischen *aurva'-
d/taxta- o.a. gelangte, einem bisher unbekannten Berufsnamen, in
dessen Diskussion wir gleichfalls nicht einzutreten vermogen. 2

Im dritten Worte hingegen, u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u, vermute ich seit
einiger Zeit den spateren Titel vis- oder vdspuhr, vertraut aus den
Tagen der Arsakiden und Sassaniden, und zwar, wie zu erwarten, in
altiranischer Gestalt. 3 Im Frahang-i-Pahlavlk entspricht das Ideo-
gramm BL BYT' d.i. bar-baitd einem mittelpersischen vispuhr
(Pazendlesung vaspur). Der aramaische Terminus bar baitd ist in den
Rechtsurkunden und Briefen von Elephantine und dem ubrigen
Agypten mehrfach belegt. 4 In gleicher Weise erscheint seit der
Achamenidenzeit in den Keilschrifturkunden Mesopotamiens der

1 Akkad. dlikum "gehend, Ganger; Bote" (vgl. W. von Soden, Akkad.
HWB, 1959, p. 36a) nimmt leicht einen Genitiv zu sich wie in alik mahri/pdm
"Vorg'anger"; auch alik ilkim fur "Lehnsmann" liesse sich denken. Das etwas
ratselhafte madaktu (man/ddaktu u.a.; Delitzsch, HWB 393f., Bezold, Wb,
p. 187a), welches etwa "Station, Lager" bedeutet (Ortsname Madaktu in Elam),
konnte also vielleicht damit verbunden werden.

2 Etwa a"rva- "schnell" (neben cPrvant- AirWb 200f.), mit u-Epenthese
wie in den Namen TTapiio-crns = fPu-ru-sd-a-tu u.a. und *Pa"ru [ hdta "bene
meritus" = '"Pu-ru-ha-a-tii u.a. (Beamtennamen p. 14° auf p. 15), zusam-
mengesetzt mit dem" etwa synonymen ta x ta- (PPP von tak- "laufen, fliessen,
rennen" AirWb 624ff.), also "Schnellaufer, Eilbote", und dann vielleicht der
iranische Ausdruck fur ayyapog, falls dieses selbst wirklich aramaisch sein sollte
(vgl. babyl. agrum "Mietling"). Man vergleiche osset. tayd "schnell" und
vaitayd "schnell, sogleich" bei Ws. Miller im Anhang zum GIrPh I, pp. 24, 94,
96; H. Hubschmann, Etymologie und Lautlehre der ossetischen Sprache (1887),
p. 57f., Nr. 241. Das Zeichen dag I tak ware dann hier fur tali verwandt worden,
ahnlich wie der Name des Konigs Artaxerxes Arta l xsaia im Babylonischen
hau6g als "'Ar-tak-sat-su o. dgl. mit tak wiedergegeben wird. Spirantisches^
statt h findet sich in vielen Urkunden beim Namen des Xerxes Xsaydrsd:
"•Ak-k-ya-ar-si gegen m Hi-si-' -ar-si (beide Schreibungen mit zahlreichen
Varianten). Auch sonst ist k in aramaischer Weise zur Wiedergabe von h
beliebt, besonders im Elamischen.

3 Meine in AfO 17 (1954-6), p. 335 kurz ausgesprochene Ansicht ist
inzwischen von G. R. Driver, Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century* (1957),
p. 41 1 ubernommen worden.

* In den von G. R. Driver veroffentlichten aramaischen Urkunden (s.
vorhergehende Anmerkung; Erstauflage 1954) ftihrt Ariama 'Apo-aung diesen
Titel (Nrr. 2,1; 3,1; 10,1).

DIE ALTIRANISCHE VORFORM DES VASPUHR

mar blti. Unter beiden Ausdriicken, dem aramaischen wie dem
babylonischen, diirfen wir uns nun freilich nicht einen hochgestellten
Perser, sondern den familiaris irgendeines babylonischen Herrn und
Grundstiickbesitzers vorstellen, welcher die Geschafte seines Herrn
als "Haussohn" besorgte und nach dem Vorbild iranischer Hofhal-
tungen diesen Titel fuhrte. Im Avesta ist die Vorform von vispuhr als
viso pudra- "Sippensohn" bezeugt. Der Ausdruck erinnert an den
Xdne'pisar im Mittelalter, "den Sohn aus gutem Hause, den Jiingling
von Stand". Dies ist also eine dritte Schattierung des beliebten
Ausdruckes. Kein Zweifel, dass wir im Gegensatz zum gewohnlichen
bar baitd bezw. mar biti in dem keilschriftlichen u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u
den iranischen Titel selbst vor uns haben, sei es im alten avestischen,
sei es im spateren parthisch-sassanidischen Sinn. Man wird ihn auf
einen oder mehrere hochgestellte Perser zu beziehen haben, die in der
Gegend von Babylon Landereien besassen, wie wir auch aus antiken
Quellen wissen; 1 und "Grundstiick, Landbesitz" wird jedenfalls
bitu wie auch sonst des ofteren hier bedeuten. Die Lesung des Wortes
ist absolut sicher, da dies bit u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-ii noch einmal in Zeile
6 wiederkehrt und dort einen eigenen Verwalter hat: m La-ba-si
lli sak-nu sd bit u-ma-su-pi-it-ru-u. 2 Die von J. Augapfel in seinen
Babylonischen Rechtsurkunden aus der Regierungszeit Artaxerxes' I.
und Darius' II. (1917) 3 p. 58 f. bereits vollstandig umschriebene
Urkunde ist insofern interessant, als die zum bit u. gehorigen Grund-
stiicke dem babylonischen Landbesitzer und Kapitalisten Ellil-sum-
iddin, Sohn des Murasu, auf drei Jahre a-na PA.tJ start iiberlassen
werden. Das ist eine Form der offentlichen Abgabe, die sonst nicht
begegnet; wie wir aus der Urkunde horen, sind davon fur das erste
Jahr bereits 6 Minen Gilber als Abgabe ina PA.U sarri bezahlt
worden.

Bemerkenswert sind die hohen Zeugen, die in BE X 15 er-
scheinen, darunter ein Sin-Kanal-Richter und zwei bezw. drei vis-
tara'bara [} u us-tar-ba-ri sd sarri), von denen der erste einen agypti-
schen Namen tragt { m Pa-da-ni-E-si-'\ siegelt nicht mit Rollsiegel,
sondern mit Ring), der zweite babylonisch benannt ist ( m Mar-duk —
ein Kurzname) und der dritte einen iranischen Namen fuhrt:

1 Vgl. Beamtennamen I, pp. 12 (bes. Anm. 7), 65f. u.6.

2 Augapfel a.a.O. spricht p. 59 von einem "Statthalter" und lasst in der
Umschrift das Zeichen MA versehentlich weg.

8 Vgl. oben, p. 55 Anm. 1.

58 a locust's leg

m Ba-ga-ra-ap ^"us-ta-ba-ri 1 a. s. m U-na-ad/t, in der Siegelbeischrift
m Ba-gi-ra-ap. Das ist moglicherweise ein *Baga'rap(a)- "dem Gotte
dienend" oder "an Gott seine Stiitze habend", je nachdem welchen
Sprachgebrauch im Avesta wir der sonst unbekannten Wurzel zu
Grunde legen (vgl. AirWb 1508). 2 Darnach richtet sich auch die
eventuelle Einsetzung eines Kasusvokales (Genetiv, Dativ), der in
m Ba-gi- mit i (=-az, -e ? = -ahya ?) zu stecken scheint. 3

Der Name des Vaters m tj-na-ad/t konnte ganz gut *Va?iata-
"Sieger" sein, thematische Ableitung von variant "siegend", 4 oder
sonstwie Kurzform eines Namens mit vanati- f. "Sieg" bezw. eines
mit vanat- beginnenden Kompositums des Types von jav. vanat.
pdsana- "die Schlacht gewinnend" (AirWb 1354f.). 5

Der von uns gesuchte Titel des "Haussohnes" in seiner altirani-
schen Form ist aber noch durch eine altere zweite Keilschrifturkunde
gesichert: BE IX 101 aus Nippur vom 40. Jahre Artaxerxes' I. (425
v.Chr.), wo ein Grundstiick, welches wie im Falle von BE X 15 am
Namgar-DQr-Ellil-Kanal liegt, verpachtet wird. Es ist SE.NUMUN
id bit u-ma-as-pi-it-ru-u und gehort zum "Bogenland" (bit qaiti) des
Murasti. Zwei Dienern des Ellil-sum-iddin (wo hi eher des Vaters als
des Sohnes von Murasu) hat Murasu das Land zur gartnerischen

1 Augapfel: us- statt us-\ Wahrend wir im l'his-tar-ba(r)-ri u.a. den *vista-
r(a/i) [ bara- "Teppichleger" (arab. farms) vermuten {Beamtennamen I, p. 81ff.),
ist der Titel des dritten Wurdentragers ll his-ta-ba-ri noch immer unklar und
einstweilen davon zu trennen (Beamtennamen I, p. 104ff.).

2 Parth. raf- "s'elancer", raf "elan" und rafdy "assaillant" bei A. Ghilain,
Essai sur la langue parthe (1939), p. 56 scheidet ja wohl schon bedeutungsmassig
aus. Auch das ramf- der Mannesnamen TTcrnpantpris und 'rmpy liegt fern
(s. Verf. in AfO 17, 1954-6, p. 327 18 ).

3 Zu beachten ist md Nabi1-ra-pa- ', in aramaischer Beischrift [N] b w r p ' ,
Personenname in der Achamenidenurkunde BE X 1 20: kaum iranische Zusam-
mensetzung mit babylonischem Gott, sondern gewiss zu westsemit. r p '
"heilen" wie in hebr. Rsfd-'el und akkad. md Adad-ra-pa- / a bezw. ""^Ad-du-ra-
pa- (die Belege bei K. L. Tallqvist, Assyrian Personal Natties, 1914, p. 10b).
Neuerdings ist in den assyrischen Nimrud-Tafeln der jiidische Mannesname
m Ra-pa-'-Ia-u "Yahwe hat geheilt" aufgetaucht (nach 684 v. Chr.; vgl.
B. Parker in Iraq 16, 1954, pp. 29-51).

4 Bekannt ist der Fixsternname Vanant- im Avesta, dem der letzte Yast
(21) gewidmet ist, mp. Vanand; liber ihn s. AirWb 1354, neuerlich Anton
Scherer, Gestirnnamen bei den indogermanischen Volkern (1953), pp. 118, 158.

6 Hierher wohl auch der Name des Jazygenkonigs BavaSaarros (2. Jhdt.
n.Chr.), den schon Ferd. Justi in seinem Iranischen Namenbuch (1895), p. 347a,
als *Va?iat.aspa erklart hat, worm ihm neuerlich L. Zgusta, Die Personennamen
griechischer Stcidte der nordlichen Schwarzmeerkiiste (1955), pp. 83 und 224 folgt.

DIE ALTIRANISCHE VORFORM DES VASPUHR

Aufbereitung 1 auf drei Jahre gegeben. Keine interessanten Zeugen. 2
Hinsichtlich der Bedeutung des hier mit dem Zeichen as statt su
geschriebenen Wortes u-ma-su/ as-pi-it-ru-u lasst sich, wie auch bei
den anderen Termini technici, den Urkunden nichts Wesentliches
abgewinnen. Dass es sich um iranische Lehensgiiter handelt, die das
Haus des Babyloniers Murasu verwaltet, ist eindeutig. Zum Ver-
standnis bleibt man also auf Lesung und etymologische Deutung des
zweifellos iranischen Wortes angewiesen. Der Anlaut 11-ma- konnte
natiirlich auch etwa ein huva- oder hva- wiedergeben. Ebenso
natiirlich steht aber auch u-ma- fur einfaches va- oder vd. 3 Man
kann nun iranisch vdso statt vds in die babylonische Schreibung
hineinlesen; doch glaube ich, dass das u, welches im Zeichen su von
BE X 15 steckt, eher ein vor p labial gefarbter Hilfsvokal ist, also
keine grammatische Bedeutung hat. Die Gruppe pi-it-r° druckt ohne
Schwierigkeit ein pidr° aus, nicht anders als etwa der Gott MiQra/i-
in den Personennamen der Keilschrifturkunden als m Mi-it-ra/ri-
oder m Mit-ra/ri- geschrieben wird. 4 Ein vas(5) l pi9r° entspricht
freilich nur zum Teil unseren Erwartungen, die etwa auf das
avestische viso pudra abzielen. Denn die uns entgegentretende
Lautung lasst ja auch an pi9r° von pitar- "Vater" denken und ein
*hvd'pidr° = Eu-rrdTcop "von edlem Vater" rekonstruieren. Allein als
Titel ist dergleichen nicht bezeugt, und so ganz ungewohnlich mutet
eine Umfarbung^wtfr > pi6r°, vor allem in fremdem Munde, doch
nicht an. Dabei konnte der z-Vokal einmal auf eine der haufigen
Verdiinnungen u > ii > i zuriickgehen, wie sie sich seit dem alten
Orient besonders im Sumerischen und Elamischen und noch heutigen
Tages im Irakarabischen und den iranischen Dialekten beobachten
lassen, gerade auch in unserem Worte pudra-, welches in einer
Reihe von Nordwestdialekten iiber puhr/pur zu pur und plr geworden

1 Text: a-na LtJ.NU.GlS.SAR-!(-fti d.i. ana sdkinuti (so Ungnad fur die
altbabylonischen Stellen) oder mit Akkadisierung des sumerischen Wortes ana
mikarributi (nu = lu, GIS.SAR = kiri a ; vgl. tJ.A = nu-ka-rib-bu Delitzsch
HWB 465b).

2 Vollstandige Umschrift und Obersetzung bei Augapfel a.a.O. p. 76f.

3 Z.B. in '"iJ-ma-ak-ku bezw. m ZJ-ma-kus = ap. Vahau\kd\ ~^X°S; tJ-mi-
fiir of- oder vahya- in m Xj-mi-ma-na- = Vivana, m tj-mi-iz-da-a-tu = Vahyaz-
ddta.

4 ZuIetzt m Mit(BE)-ri-da-a-ta = Mi6piScnT|S ; ein I'h-es sarri (> saris im
Hebraischen des Alten Testaments) in UET IV 1 und 2 (Ur, Zeit Arta-
xerxes' II.).

a locust's leg

ist. 1 Merkwiirdigerweise ist fur unser Wort tatsachlich schon im
Mittelalter die Form mit i bezeugt: vaspir. 2 Das ist naturlich eine
verhaltnismassig junge Entwicklung, die man nicht unmittelbar
beiziehen darf. Anderseits konnte die z'-Farbung auf Epenthese
zuriickgehen, wenn wir dem Worte eine entsprechende Endung
geben, etwa °pu8riya- oder °pu6ri-, 3 so dass also ein °pu'dr° mit
umgelautetem u entstanden ware. Eine solche Erweiterung hat
vielleicht das Akkadische mit seiner Langschreibung -pi-it-rn-u am
Ende des Wortes ausdriicken wollen; es konnte aber ebenso audi ein
akkadischer Maskulinplural auf-zZ intendiert sein. Jedenfalls wurde
ich die Schwierigkeiten, die einer Interpretation von keilschriftlichem
-pi-it-ru-u als -pudr entgegenstehen, nicht fur uniiberwindlich halten.
Keine Bedenken sehe ich ferner gegen die Form vds" statt sis.
Stehen sich doch im Mitteliranischen die Formen vaspuhr und
vispuhr gegeniiber, deren Verhaltnis H. H. Schaeder in seinem
Artikel Ein parthischer Titel im Sogdischen in BSOAS 8 (1935-7)

1 Beispiele fur NW pir < piir < pur (< puhr): KPF III/I, p. 34a (Chun-
sar), p. 88a (Mahallat), p. 212b (Semnan), denen ich aus eigenen Sammlungen
weitere Belege beiftigen kann.

2 Volksetymologie vas pir "sehr alt" — woruber H. H. Schaeder in
BSOAS 8 (1935-7), p. 744=.

3 Worter auf -{i)ya- sind die gewohnlichen der semitischen Nisbe (auf
-ly-) entsprechenden Adjektivbildungen, wie sie in np. -z (< mp. -ik < air.
-iya-ka-) fortleben. Die Beziehungsadjektiva auf -i- hingegen (mit und ohne
Vokalsteigerung) sind meist den Patronymica vorbehalten, abundierend im
Altindischen, aber auch im Avesta mehrfach gut bezeugt. Aus der Eigen-
namensphare beginnen sie mit Wortern wie dhuri- "ahurisch" und mdzdayasni-
"masdajasnisch" herauszutreten (eine Entwicklung, die entfernt der der semi-
tischen Nisbe gleicht), und es ist nicht einzusehen, weshalb nicht auch ein
Eigenschaftswort *vd(i)s ] pndri- zu einem *vis'pu8ra- hatte gebildet werden
sollen, das spater substantiviert wurde. Aus semantischen Griinden kommt
ein Adjektiv auf -in nicht in Frage, da diese Worter ahnlich wie -v/mant- die
Bedeutung "versehen mit, reich an" haben. Oberdies sind Nomina auf -in, so
haufig im Sanskrit, dem Altiranischen weniger gelaufig. Immerhin finden sich
aber im jiingeren Avesta die folgenden Adjektive als Beispiele:

fra(x)snin- "providus, besorgt" (= ai. pragiiin-) zu *fra'xsnd- f. {AirWb 978)
myezdin- "mit Myazda versehen" zu myazda- m. "Opferspende" {AirWb

1192)
pmrmin- "gefiedert, befliigelt" zu parana- n. "Flugel, Feder" (AirWb 870)

nebst

p3rmin- "mit einer Feder versehen" zu panna- m/n. (AirWb 896)

saocahin- "fiammenversehen" zu soacah- n. "Brand" (Wz. saok-; AirWb 1550)

sraosin- "gehorchend, gehorsam" zu sraoSa- m. "Gehorsam" (AirWb 1637).

Auch Schaedeir in dem bereits zitierten Aufsatz nimmt p. 748 als Grundlage der

mitteliranischen Formen *vdiBpusi "Prinzensohn" an, doch wohl eben als "pusi-.

DIE ALTIRANISCHE VORFORM DES VASPUHR

pp. 736-49 eigens untersucht hat. Es handelt sich bei vds um die
Kiirzung einer Vrddhi-Form, welche, auf i zuriickgehend, ihr ai zu
blossem a reduziert, also von vis ein vdis, welches zu vds geworden
ist, wie bereits Chr. Bartholomae gesehen hat. 1 Fur den gleichen
Vorgang im Altindischen hat M. Mayrhofer in OLZ 1956 Spp. 9-13
eine Reihe schoner Beispiele aus Wackernagels Altindischer Grammatik
(II 2: Die Nominalsuffixe, 1954) beigebracht wie die Adjektiva ddvika-
"vom Fluss Devikd stammend" (also ddvika statt *ddivika) und
kdsika neben kausika "seiden" zu kosa sowie sdmsapd als Ableitung
des Baumnamens simsapd "Dalbergia sisoo". 2

Die Neigung di zu d zu vereinfachen, diirfte sich schon friih
eingestellt haben, wenn wir die Wiedergaben altiranischer Worter in
der elamischen Keilschrift der Achameniden recht interpretieren.
Dort findet sich fur den dritten Monat des achamenidischen Kalen-
ders (Mai-Juni) der Name Odiyra'ci-, ein Adjektiv, welches sich
gut bauerlich (und nomadisch) auf das Sammeln (np. cidan, Wz. «'-)
von Knoblauch (air. *sigra~, mp. siyr, np. sir) bezieht, 3 stets in der

1 WZKM 25 (1911), pp. 251-4.

2 Elam. [e'^]se-is-sd-ba-ut in der Susa-Bauinschrift Darius' I. (Scheil,
Deleg. en Perse 24, 1933, Taf. IV sowie p. 109 col. I, 29) = ap. yakd ( > np.
gag/y) = babyl. B' § MEZ.MA.KAN.NA d.i. musnk(k)annu oder "mesu-tlolz aus
Makan". Vgl. W. Hinz mJNESt 9 (1950), pp. 2, 6a; die richtige Bestimmung des
Baum- und Holznamens wird I. Gershevitch in BSOAS 19 (1957), pp. 317-20
und 21 (1958), p. 174 verdankt. Die elamische Form -ba-ui konnte bad gelesen
werden und auf einen indischen Wortausgang -pada deuten, soweit das Wort
nicht iiberhaupt vorarisch ist. Die Form simsapd- f. ist schon vedisch und hat,
woruber mich M. Mayrhofer freundlicherweise unterrichtet, in den spateren
Sprachen Indiens und des Orients iiberhaupt viele Nachfolger hervorgebracht.

3 So Christian Bartholomae AirWb Sp. 786 nach F. Justis Vorgang
(ZDMG 51, 1897, p. 243). Die zunachst merkwurdig scheinende Annahme,
dass die Knoblauchernte (es gibt auch wilden Knoblauch in Vorderasien) einem
Monat den Namen gibt, liegt bei naherem Zusehen ftir den Iranier gar nicht so
fern. Der Knoblauch ist ein ahurisches Gewachs und gleich der Zwiebel
verehrungswurdig. Oberdies horen wir von einem Feste, das noch in spaterer
Zeit am 14. Tage jedes Sonnenmonats unter dem Namen sir'sur mit Fleisch-
und Knoblauch-Essen gefeiert wurde, wodurch man sich gegen bose Geister zu
schutzen meinte. Verfasser des Burhdn-i-Qdti' kommt unter dem Stichwort
Gos, d.i. der Engel, dem der 14. Monatstag heilig war ( = Gaus Tasan- bezw.
Gaus Urvan-), auf das Fest zu sprechen: Ji_tj Ji^j r, ;'U-^ j jj ^jj ^ O W"J ^J

4 ijC-

<Aj aju \^is-j oL5

/j^sLi oL,l oj;Ij pjl jjjj.5 j fj^j vj^s- k

Continued on page 62

A LOCUST S LEG

Lautung sakr bezw. sagr° fur ap. Qaiyr . 1 Dies sind die elamischen
Schreibungen fiir ©diyra'ci-: 2

Sa-ak-ri-sa

Sa-ak-?'i-(is-)si-is

Sa-ak-ri-is-si-is (s hier=0?)

Sa-a-ak-ri-is-si-is (mit langem d\)

Sa-aq-qa-ri-si-is

Sa-a-kur-ri-si-is (mit langem a\ die bei weitem haufigste Form)

Sa-kur (als starke Verkiirzung oder fehlerhafte Auslassung).
Nur einmal ist ai bisher belegt, in

Sa-a-ik-ra-si-is,
wobei nicht einmal sicher steht, ob nicht vielleicht doch sdk° inten-
diert gewesen ist. Schon der gewohnliche (ungelangte) Diphthong ai
kann im Elamischen als Lang-a erscheinen, etwa in

da-a-ma (neben da-a-ya-ma)=daiva "Gotze, Teufel"
und wohl auch in dem davon abgeleiteten

da-a-[ma-da-na-u??i]=dawa'dana "Gotzenstatte, Heidentempel",
wie die Daiva-Inschrift des Xerxes aus Persepolis zeigt. 3 Bemerkens-
wert ist der Name des Vaters des babylonischen Aufriihrers in
Behistun §16, welcher, wenn wir richtig lesen, ap. Ainaira, im
Elamischen aber Ha-a-na-a-ra heisst (babyl. m A-ni-ri-). i Auch der

Auch als Gegengift war der Knoblauch beliebt, worauf Ibrahim Pur-i-Da'ud in
seinem Ilurmuzd i name (Teheran 1331/1952), p. 109f. zu sprechen kommt.
Uber die volkskundliche Bedeutung des Knoblauches und weitere Zusam-
menhange habe ich, inbezug auf den Monatsnamen allerdings etwas abweichend,
bereits in Der alte Name des persischen Neujahrfestes (1953), p. 42 3 gehandelt.

1 Die herkommliche Lesung Qdigarci (so auch R. G. Kent, Old Persian*,
1953, p. 187) entspricht nicht den elamischen Schreibungen, die zwischen g/k
und r keinen Vokal zulassen; denn auch Silbenzeichen wie -kur- bezeichnen in
der neuelamischen Orthographie gerade gern die vokallose Konsonantenver-
bindung. Richtig schon Cameron, Persepolis Treasury Tablets, p. 45, Note 4.

2 Nach Cameron a.a.O., pp. 44, 209b.

3 Vgl. Cameron a.a.O., p. 42; die elamische Version der Inschrift Perse-
polis h hat F. H. Weissbach in der Koschaker-Festsckrift { = Symbolae ad jura
Orientis antiqui pertinentes Paulo Koschaker dedicatae; Leiden 1939), pp. 189—98,
mit grossem Geschick erganzt und vervollstandigt, leider nur entgegen seinem
eigenen Prinzip in einer bisweilen zu Irrtumern verleitenden Umschrift, da er
das da-a-ma des Textes nach der altpersischen Aussprache als da-di-wa um-
schreiben zu miissen meint.

4 Sollte der merkwiirdige Name, der im Gegensatz zum Namen des
Sohnes Nidintu-Bel so gar nicht babylonisch klingt, ein altiranisches An'ariya
"Nicht-Arier" (moglicherweise volksetymologisch) spiegeln? Die Stelle ware
dann wohl zu Aina[ryd\hya (Genitiv) zu erganzen. Aber man sollte doch
wenigstens *Anairahya erwarten.

DIE ALTIRANISCHE VORFORM DES VASPUHR

Monatsname Adukanaisa ging nach der haufigen elamischen Schrei-
bung Ha-du-kdn-na-is mindestens bei einem Teil der Sprechenden
auf -kanas aus, dem allerdings auch noch andere Schreibungen zur
Seite stehen. 1 Fiir elamische Ohren scheint also nicht nur das
altpersische ai, sondern bereits der Kurzdiphthong ai stark nach a
geklungen zu haben. 2 Fiir den Langdiphthong ai macht jedenfalls,
wie wir glauben, Annahme eines schon friih moglichen Uberganges
zu a keine Schwierigkeiten, so dass wir dem mitteliranischen vdspuhr
unbedenklich schon einen altiranischen Vorfahren *vds'pu6ri zubil-
ligen diirfen, der sich in der Keilschriftschreibung u-ma-as / sn-pi-it-
ru-ii der beiden neubabylonischen Urkunden aus der Achameniden-
zeit erhalten hat, wie immer in Wirklichkeit Kompositionsfuge und
Endung der iranischen Form beschaffen gewesen sein mogen.

1 So "kdn-nu-is, °kd?i-?iu-ya(-is), °qa-nu (Cameron a.a.O., p. 42).

2 Einige Differenzen zwischen den altpersischen und elamisch-babylo-
nischen Formen, die gewohnlich grammatisch oder etymologisch erklart werden,
mogen sich auf diese phonetische Eigenttimlichkeit zuriickfuhren lassen. Hierher
gehort vielleicht nicht der a/i-Wechsel, wie er uns in den Mannesnamen Ci"cixris
und Aspa'cana entgegentritt. Aber folgende Falle scheinen mir bemerkenswert:

Der ap. Stammesname A'kaufaciya ist °fa(i)ciya schon wegen babyl.
A-ku-pi-i-is, zumal auch sonst -akya > -aiciya > -ec/z > -Iz geworden
ist (vgl. Eilers in Archiv Orientdlni 52, 1954, pp. 268, 310f.).
Vielleicht driickt beim Namen des grossen Empfangstores von Persepolis
(Xerxes Pers. a) das

elamische Mi-is-sd-da-a-hu-is eine z'-Epenthese °da{i)hyus ( > mp/np.
deli) aus, obwohl die altpersische Form Visa'da !l yus lautet (auch babyl.
l3--is-pi-da-a--im.it Lang-a!). In der Daiva-Inschrift des Xerxes (Pers. h)
ist dahydus durch >~ da-a-ya-u-is wiedergegeben.
Auch dem

griechischen 'AxaiHEvrjs stehen Lang-a-Formen gegeniiber ingestalt von

ap. Ha^amanis "von der Gesinnung eines Freundes", elam. y Ha-aq-qa-

man-nu-is und babyl. m A-ha-ma-ni-is- (nebst den variierenden Wieder-

gaben des davon abgeleiteten altpersischen Eigenschaftswortes auf -yd),

wobei haxay- dem heteroklitischen sdkhay- "Freund" im Altindischen

entspricht (AirWb 1744).

Der altiranische Mannesname Kavdta (mp. Kavdt, arabisiert mit Labialvokal

Qubdd) geht auf ein kavdy- ebenso zuruck wie der Mannesname Kavd'rasman-

in Yast 13, 103 (so Bartholomae in AirWb 443f.), wobei Kavd-ta- nicht not-

vvendigerweise haplologisch erklart werden muss (Barth. a.a.O.: <*kava i vdta-

"von den Kavis geliebt"), sondern unmittelbar als kavd-ta mit indogermani-

schem -to- angesehen werden kann (wie etwa *apdta- "bewassert" > mp. dpdt >

np. dbdd). Nach Bartholomae wiirden die Vorderglieder haxd- und kavd- den

Nominativ singularis reprasentieren. (Doch s. H. W. Bailey, TPS, 1954, 146.)

Unseres Erachtens ist der Wandel von ai zu d ein rein phonetischer Vorgang,

der sowohl vereinzelt vorkommt (hebr. an "wo" < ain, bdttim "Hauser"

< baitini) wie eine ganze Sprachschicht durchdringt (norddeutsch ei, sprich

ai, > d in breit > brat, Eilers > Aiders).

TAQIZADEH VOL

NOTE ON AN UNKNOWN POEM OF HAIDAR
IN UIGHUR CHARACTERS

By T. GANDJEI

'Ali-ser Nava'i, states in the notice which he gives in the Majalis an-
nafd'is on the Timurid Iskandar b. 'Omar Saix Mirza, the governor of
Fars and Isfahan (1409-14), that his court-poet was Maulana Haidar-i
Turki-gfly, and quotes a verse by this poet. 1 Manuscripts in both
Uighur and Arabic script have come down to us of the work entitled
Maxzan al-asrdr, 2 which was written by a Chagatai poet named
Haidar for Iskandar, in the same metre as the homonymous work by
Nizami, of which it is an imitation. Since we find the verse quoted by
Nava'i in this work, there is no doubt that the Haidar whom he
mentions is the author of the Maxzan. Berezin was the first to publish
some portions of this work, 3 from a manuscript in Vienna 4 in which
the author's name is not given. He gave the author as Nava'i. Later
Gottwaldt published the entire work. 5 This editor, although he did
not give the author's name, said in a note which he subsequently
published 6 that the Haidar whose name was mentioned in the text of
the work was the author. Pavet de Courteille, who was unaware of
these publications, edited some portions of the Maxzan as an appendix
to the Mi'rdj-?imna. 7 In his view the author of the work, Haidar, must
be the Haidar-i Majzub whom Nava'i knew in his childhood. 8 With

1 Brit. Mus, Add. 7875, f. 107v.

2 See p. 64, n. 1, 7; p. 65, n. 2-3.

3 Chrestomathie Turque (Kazan 1857), I, 273-87.

4 The Vienna Cat., 1,612.

5 Kazan 1858.

ZDMG, XIII, 1859, 503; XVII, 1863, 184.

' Paris 1882, 63-95.

8 Ibid., XXV sqq.; Pavet de Courteille on the basis of the word mu'amma'i
which occurs in the Maxzan puts forward the view that Haidar was associated
with Maulana Muh. Mu'amma'i mentioned in the Majalis, but he pays no
attention to the context and meaning. Further, the correct variant of this word
as found in the Brit. Mus. manuscript (Or. 3491, f. 25v) is mu'ammasi.

- / -7-

An unknown poem of Haidar

TAQIZADEH VOL.

;\ \X\ ***» : .< './>

An unknown poem of Haidar

TAQIZADEH VOL.

L ; rtl . .

PLATE III

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e^^;^

X \

Bi^Wy ^rlP 1 ' ■ ""?""'" ■*■ '■ ■ ■■" '■■—' ■ ' — i .»! : ;Ti . -> m i« f| f - — — —. — nisi.. . , ■ — — — — T i m i nj i V 111 ' I

An unknown poem of Haidar

AN UNKNOWN POEM OF HAIDAR 65

regard to this person, Nava'i says 1 that he was a very strange man,
although a man of learning; but he does not mention anything about
his connexion with Iskandar or that he wrote Turkish poetry. As one
of the two manuscripts of the Maxzan in the British Museum bears
the title Haidar-i Tilba?iin Masnavisi, Rieu 2 corroborated Pavet de
Courteille's identification, taking into account the closeness in
meaning between tilbd (crazy, mad) and majzub (ecstatic dervish).
This was accepted by Pertsch. 3 Blochet was the first to point out
that this identification was impossible from the historical point of
view. 4 F. Koprulii, 5 for his part, while accepting the opinion of
Blochet, put forward the idea that this poet is to be identified with
Haidar Xvarazml, who is mentioned by Nava'i in the Muhdkamat
al-lugatain as one of his predecessors in writing Turkish verse. 6
Although it is in fact now firmly established that this poet had no
connexion with Haidar-i Majzub, since the latter enjoyed a wide
popularity, 7 the word tilba-majzub was applied to him at a very early
date, as in the case of the manuscript of the Maxzan dated 1509. 8 In
some manuscripts of the Majdlis* 1 it was added by the copyists, but
neither Nava'i, in the Majdlis, nor the compiler of the Chagatai
dictionary called Abusqa mention that Haidar was "Xvarazml". The
various editions of the Muhdkamat al-lugatain which all agree on this
point (i.e. Haidar(-i) Xvarazml), rely wholly on the editio princeps of
Quatremere. In my opinion a vav is missing after the word Haidar —
thus it should be emended to "Haidar <va> Xvarazml" — and this
Xvarazml is without doubt the author of the Muhabbat-nd?na. 10 The
fact that Nava'i does not mention Xvarazml in the Majdlis is possibly
due to his lack of knowledge of the Turkish poets before him. Thus
he knows nothing about Yiisuf Hass Hajib, the author of the Qutadgu
Bilig, and he treats the author of the 'Atabat al-haqd'iq as some vague

1 Brit. Mus., Add. 7875, f. 22v.

2 Cat. of the Turkish Mss., 286b.

3 The Berlin Cat., 432 sq.

4 Cat. des mss. Turcs, 11, 116.
5 IA, III, 290 sq.

6 Ed. Quatremere (Paris 1841), 33 sq.

' Nava'i mentions him once more in the Nasa'im al-mahabbat, cf. Docu-
menta Islamica Inedita, 238.

8 Brit. Mus., Add. 7914.

9 For example Brit. Mus., Add. 7875, f. 107v.

10 Ed. by T. Gandjei in AIUON, VI (1954-6); VII (1957); VIII (1958).

A LOCUST S LEG

and legendary figure. 1 He even goes so far as to say that lie has not
come across any of the poems of Sakkaki, whom he praises in several
places. 2 Taking this general lack of information into consideration,
the fact that he does not deal with Haidar and Xvarazmi seems to be
deliberate. Thus if he had given a full account of these two poets,
he would have contradicted not only himself, but also his patron
Sultan Husain. He relates at length that Sultan Husain, who was
himself a Turkish poet, was the first to encourage poets to write in
Turkish. 3 As for Sultan Husain, he writes 4 that no Turkish poems
had been written up to his time and that Nava'i was the first to
accomplish this task. One thing is certain. The name of our poet, who
lived at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth
century, was Haidar, as is evident from the text of his work. 5 The
designation "Turki-guy" which Nava'i gave him is applied to the
composers of a kind of song (turki-qosuq) in a variant of the metre

ramaU

Although it is certain that Haidar wrote tiirkis, nothing is known
either about these tiirkis, or about the qasidas and gazah which we
can with some confidence assume that he wrote. Now, surprisingly
enough, we have come across a qasida of Haidar m praise of his
patron Iskandar, written in Uighur characters and preserved in an
anthology of Persian poetry. 7

"Mimtaxabdt-iAs'dr (Imp. Library of Iran, Ms. 647), octavo size,
measuring 265 X 150 mm. New morocco binding with decoration.
The paper on which the text is written is the type of paper called
buxdrd'i, and that of the margins is European. The folios are generally
decorated in the margins. Some of them have floral decorations in
gold and water-colour miniatures of a high degree of finish; in all there
are 50 sheets, forming 369 pages, each of which contains on the
average 18 verses. The manuscript contains examples of various

1 Documenta Islamica Inedita, 227 '.

2 Majdlis, Brit. Mus., Add. 7875, f. 42v; Divan, Brit. Mus., Or. 401, f. 4v.

3 Muhakamat al-lugatain, ed. Quatremere, 35.

4 T. Gandjei, Un scritto apologetico di Husain Mirzd, in AIUON, V (1953),
171 sq.

5 Brit. Mus., Add. 7914, f. 121r, 124r, 141 v.

6 Kulliydt-i Nava'i, Ms. of the RAS, f. 626r.

7 For the following description of the manuscript I am greatly indebted to
Dr Mehdi Bayani, Director of National Library, Teheran, who very kindly drew
my attention to the existence of this fragment and most generously provided me
with photocopies of it.

AN UNKNOWN POEM OF HAIDAR 67

calligraphic hands such as suls, raihani, nasx, riq'a, tanqi' and nasta'liq;
with three pages in Uighur script. 1 There is no date of copying and
the name of the scribe is not given. It was evidently on the last folio,
which has disappeared. In my view, the manuscript was written by
Mirza Ja'far Tabrizi-i-Baysungun about the year 850 (ca. 1450) and it
is very likely that such a fine calligraphic copy was made for an amir
or king. One folio at the end and some in the middle of the manuscript
have been lost and careless repair and rebinding have disarranged the
order of the folios. One of the leaves that are now missing must have
been in Uighur script. The manuscript is a collection of the poems
by 'Imadi, Amir Xusrau, Xvajii, 'Iraqi, Hafiz, Firdausi, Tmad-i Faqih,
Sa'di, 'Attar, Kamal-i Xujandi, Bushaq, Kamal ad-din Talib, Hasan-i
Dihlavi, Jalal ad-din Rumi, Qais 'Amiri, Salman-i Savajl, Amir
Sahi, Jalal, Humam, Ibn 'Imad, Katibi, Nizari, Auhadi and Sa'inl".
As we know, for some time during the reign of Sahrux (1404-47)
some literary and religious works in Turkish were written in Uighur
script. Works such as the Qutadgu Bilig, 'Atabat al-haqd'iq, Mi'rdj-
nama, Tazkirat al-auliyd, Baxtiydr-ndma, and some of the poems of
such poets as Sakkaki and Lutfi were copied at Herat, Samarkand
and Yazd in the years 1432-42. 2 Clearly this was nothing but the
survival of a tradition. The extreme inadequacy of this script, especi-
ally for works which are loaded with Arabic and Persian elements,
plainly suggests that it was not destined for practical use. To over-
come this inadequacy, in some works (including the poem we publish
here) letters such as h, s, t, g, ', * are sometimes indicated by the
appropriate Arabic letters. Later a manuscript of the 'Atabat al-haqd'iq
which was written in Uighur script at Istanbul in 1480 far from the
Timurid milieu, was provided with an interlinear transcription in the
Arabic alphabet. Without doubt, Haidar's poem has been included in
the anthology with other kinds of script, as an example of calligraphy,
and only for this reason.

1 Each page contains 1 verses which are written in margine. In the middle
of the pages there are two lines written with a thick nib. Two of them in the
form of a hemistich, seem to belong to the poem:

musallam-tur sa-qa iqbdl u ham u din u daulatta
mald'ik 'ars u kursi lauh u afldk ustdd sozlar
and the third reads as follows:

bu madh u sand hamd u du'alarni kija kiindiiz

2 For a full account of these and other works and documents in Uighur
script see my article The Renaissance of the Uighur script.

A LOCUST S LEG

The poem is in the form and with all the characteristics of the
classical qasida. After the usual opening (nasib) it goes on, after two
transition verses (guriz-gah), to the praise (madh) of Iskandar. Since
the last folio is missing, the customary prayer (du'a) found in qasldas
is lost. The qasida, which is lavish in the use of Arabic and Persian
words, is composed in an extremely elaborate style. Apart from the
well-known rhetorical figures, the poet makes an excessive use of
laff u nasr. In this poem, we encounter here and there traces of
alliteration, which are used however, no longer as an essential element
(as was the case in Turkish poetry uninfluenced by Islamic models),
but only as a rhetorical figure.

Maulana Haidar aytur
Hazaj :~ / " / ~ / "

1. alur k67)himni bir dildar-i sux-i sang-i slmin-bar
kozi ahu sozi jadii rrm)i hindu ozi kafar

2. saci uci rux'i tauri boy'i zain'i yiizi rangi

sab-i qadr u mah-i badr u sahl sarv u giil-i ahmar

3. kirisma slva vu said u sama'il birla har sa'at
alur sabr u qarar u aql u din ol tiirk-i garatgar

4. naca qilgay jafa vu 'arbada jaur u sitam ya rab
vafa vu xulq u lutf u marhamat fanninda ol dilbar

5. magar bilmaz ki dad u 'adl u ihsan u karam birla
tapib-tur yar iiza mutlaq safa-yi din u zlb u far

6. agar qoymasa bu jaur u 'itab u lriig < u > afganni
qilay'in dad u faryad u figan u nalalar yaksar

7. sah-i sahzada dana'I sulaiman xatt'i alninda
badiik noyan adiz xaqan ulug sultan sah iskandar

8. iriir adl u saxa vu din u danis icra jaddi tak
bilig kan'i jihan jani ajun xan'i hunar-parvar

9. nabl ya7)l'ig 'all yaTjl'ig hasan yo-/]lug husain yovjlug
saja'at vartas'inda ol haqlql sir haqlqat sar

10. cu zain al-'abidln u baqir u sadiq bila kazim
zamlri-/] pak u dimt] rast sidqin tiiz oziin rahbar

11. riyazl u badl'I u tabl'I u ilahlni

zamlrin bikri hall u dark u kasb u <daxl> nasr aylar

12. muhlt'i birla iqlldus rasad hikmat fu<nu>ni'nda
yasar andlsas'iz zihni'/] zamIri-/)-tur tiiman daftar

13. sani 'ilm u 'amal fazl u hunar birla oga bilgi
fallnas u arastu u buzurg-ummld u bu ma'sar

AN UNKNOWN POEM OF HAIDAR

6 9

14. du'a pardaz u maddah u qosuqcl u sana-xoniT)
karak hassan ya sahban ya salman ya anvar

15. ma?ja tigmaz bu had kim vasf u hamd u madh u na't aysam
bu til bu soz bu isti'dad u danis birla e davar

16. yiirus yortus yiiguriis yiiksalis birla kumaitivjtur
qamar sairan zuhal jaulan bilig maidan pari farfar

17. cavirmakta yiigiirmakta yiingiillikta agirli'qta
tiitiin tak tund u ot tak tez u fll ayln u yar langar

18. usuqluqta asuqluqta yavasl'iqta yangilliktii
yalari yal magari ot yiiriisi su taki sarsar

19. ni oqsasun viqar u miknat u tamkln u hukmuvjda
yuz alburz u tiiman qaf u miyj alvand u mahana sar

20. ulug alqab u ausaf u du'a vu midhatirj birla
musarraf sikka vu xutba muzayyan masjid u minbar

21. yiirusindiv) turuslndly) yarag'indr/] yasali'ndiv)

azun darham jihan barham malak hairan falak muztar

22. hasiid u mudda'I u dusman u bad-xoh yasalmda
qoyar jaulan salur qalqan bolur bl-pa qalur bl-sar

23. sukuypin navakiT] tiriij xadangi-/) zarblna tozmaz
tiiman qat kicalar xobda zirih jausan bila bar dar

24. koriib gurziT] qilijirj xancar'17] oq'1'7) bila sahmiv]
ni tursun azdaha vu zinda pil u gurg u slr-i nar

25. sani-/) raxsuv) iriir x5s par urus sanci's kiini saksi'z
humayun fal u farrux-baxt u daulat-yar u sa'd-axtar

26. iriir 'ajiz saxa vu jud u dad u 'adl'iv) alnivjda
talim hatam tiiman jana basl xaqan okiis naukar

27. italguy) qapqaniVj sunqurni'-/) lacIniT] uc birla
alur fll u yalar kosak basar arslan tutar azdar

28. turumtay kiiykanak qirgu bugun'i tarbiyat qilsa-/j
'uqab u karkas u barbat qaclrn'i izlamaz avlar

29. osol dam kim togiis tolgas urus sancis kiini bolsa
oquy) gurzu-/] giliciV| xancariTjdm yar u kok titrar

30. siiraniT) haibati'y) hamlav) capisr/jnl koriib dusman
bolur hairan u sargardan u bl-saman u k5r u kar

1ND0-IRANIAN RU-, LU-, "TO PLUCK" 1

By BERNHARD GEIGER
It was Paul Horn who in his Grundriss der Neupersischen Etymologie
(1893), "Nachtrage", no. 628 bis, p. 258, sub rudan, advanced two
remarks which have contributed to a better understanding of the
meanings and word formations of this verb. Of special importance
was his reference to four words in passages of the Judaeo-Persian
translation published in P. de Lagarde's Persische Studien. 2 These
words are (1) Isaiah 15,2: res rudan "tearing out (cutting off) beards"
in connexion with making the heads bald; (2) Is. 18,2: rilda, part. pret.
(whose hair was) "torn out"; (3) Is. 50,6: rfmd-dn, plur. of part. pres.
"pulling out their hair" (from the faces: MN roy); (4) Jerem. 16,6:
na rud-dyad 3 "not (a beard) is pulled out", which is preceded by na
jarahat hard-dyad ba-esdn, "nor baldness is made because of them",
i.e. as an expression of mourning.

In his second remark Horn pointed to Kurdish me-rutin, "to
pluck, pull out, cut off", with the present ez we-di-ruz-im, but he was
puzzled by the z of this form, the final explanation of which I shall
propose in a later continuation of the present article. 4 As to the word
riit Horn states (against Justi) that this is "probably" not a Mod.-
Persian, but a dialectical form. But this is evident already from the
final letter t. 5 However, Horn overlooked the Baluci verb runag,

1 The present article is only an excerpt from an hitherto unpublished
extensive paper which I had prepared some time ago for a meeting of the
American Oriental Society. Unfortunately lack of space prevented me from
including more of the pertinent Iranian material and forced me to omit the
equally important Indie material.

2 Abhandl.d.Ges.d.Wiss. Goettingen, vol. 31, 1884.

3 Cp. Grundr.d.Iran.Phil., vol. I, part 2, p. .412.

4 Justi's explanation in Jaba-Justi's Dictionnaire Kurde-Francais, p. 299,
is unsatisfactory.

6 In Grundriss d.Ir.Phil.I/2, pp. 8 and 80 he still says that rut is "perhaps"
a Kurdish loanword in ModPersian. But this doubt is contradicted by the long
list of passages in which the word occurs in dialects always in the form rut {rut)

7°

runay, "to reap", aor. runit, pp. ruta, ru6a, Skt. lu, lundti, which had
been listed already by W. Geiger in his "Etymologie des Baliici", 1
p. 39, Nr. 321.

As the Judaeo-Persian, Kurdish and Baliici words had escaped
Bartholomae's notice, he read in his "Etymologie und Wortbildung
der indogerm. Sprachen" (Heidelberg 1919), pp. 39 ff., the letters
hvzv-, which obviously represent run-, as row-, which he connected
with the German "Raub, raufen", MidPers. rop, "robbery" and
rubiidan, "to rob". However, very soon he corrected this interpreta-
tion in a note to his treatise "Zur Kenntnis der mitteliranischen
Mundarten III", (Heidelberg 1920), p. 8, where he conceded that
run- is the right reading. But he added the reservation that "neverthe-
less", in view of the Sogdian ropam, rope(\. und 2. sing, pres.) which
are the translations of the Greek word meaning "to reap" in Luke 19,
21 f., the assumption might be justified that the root ru- goes back to
an original verbal "raufen", consisting of r and u followed by a final
labial. This reservation is for obvious reasons unacceptable, especially
in view of the fact that the meaning "to reap" is assigned also to
the unextended root ru-, in Baliici runag, 2 probably also in Wayi ru-
"to cut off, to reap, to weed" 3 and Pashto lau, "reaping, crop,
harvest". 4

The original meaning of the verb ru-, lu- is very distinctly
preserved in two passages of the MidPersian text of Xusrav I kavatan.

and with the meaning "naked". In a similar way the closely related word which
mostly appears in the form lukht (liiht, lut), but also luhd, lo u d, with the meaning
"naked", is not to be considered a genuine ModPersian word. Cp. the list in
O. Mann-K. Hadank, lOard.-Pers. Forschungen, Abt.III.Bd.l-, p. 153. This is,
furthermore, confirmed by the remark in Andreas-Christensen, Iran. Dialekt-
aufzeichnungen, Berlin, 1939, p. 474: "lu%t, nackt, Umgangssprachlich (i.e.
colloquially) Np. ln%t". But it cannot be denied that rut as well as luxt have been
attested by some Persian lexicographers as occurring in Persian verses, though
this is by no means decisive.

1 Abhandl.Bayr.Ak.d.Wiss., 1. CI., Bd.XIX, Abth.l, Munchen 1890.

2 e.g. M. L. Dames, Popular poetry of the Baloches, London 1907, vol. I,
p. 91: phauzha ruBaye, "did you reap a harvest?" (transl. vol. II, p. 91).

3 Pres. wa-rinam, etc., p.p. -rut (riit): Cp. Tomaschek, Centralasiat. Studien,
Sitzungsber. Wiener Ak.d.W., Phil-hist.Kl., Bd.XLVI, 1880, p. 867. Cp. now
D. L. R. Lorimer, The Wakhi Language, 1958, vol. 2, p. 205, who attributes to
this word the meanings "to pluck, esp. a fowl", and is of the opinion that the
meaning "to weed" offered by R. B. Shaw is not justified.

4 Cp. e.g. Kalid-i Afghani, p. 109, 1. 2 from below: lau e pa kse vu-kai;
"reaping (harvest) by him was made".

a locust's leg

H. W. Bailey has already proved 1 that in §26 of the text the word rwt
(Ms. rwtn), which Unvala had wrongly interpreted as "trunk", is to
be read rut, "it was plucked". I found rut, "it (sc. a kid) was plucked"
also in §21 of the same text where Unvala offers the reading rot, "the
entrails". A few more radical corrections of wrong readings of the
editor in this paragraph will be submitted on a later occasion. The
same verb is used in a similar sense in the Iran. Bundahisn, p. 225,
1. 5: ciyon mis ka-s gurg pasm runit "like the ram when the wolf pulls
out its wool". In the same text, p. 104, 1. 11, we find the phrase oar*
rut, "they pulled out (each other's) hair", said of the first pair of
human beings who were beating each other very violently. The com-
pound vars-rfinisnih, "the pulling out of (somebody's) hair", appears
in Mat.Hazar Datistan II, p. 14, 1. 16, in a list of physical injuries
inflicted on persons in an assault. There is a similar long list of
injuries (wounds) to be found in Denkart (Madan) II, p. 697, 11. 3 ff.
(Sanjana, vol. XV, p. 42). However, here we find in the midst between
abstract formations ending in -isn meaning "cutting, tearing, cleav-
ing .. . piercing", etc., instead of runisn, the form frac-rutak, the
participle of the preterite with the preposition frac, which I would
translate by "severely pulled (stripped) off". In a very similar context
in Denk. Sanj., I.e., p. 44, where some of the verbs which in the
passage mentioned just before, appear in the form of abstracts or of
infinitives, the verbs are presented in the forms of the 3. sing. pret.
pass., among them rut, "he was stripped". In the edition of Madan,
p. 698, 1. 5, to letters of the word rut the letters mn were added with
the result that the correct word rut became transformed into the
Aramaic ideogram LWTH, Iranian apdk, "with", which is here out
of place. Finally I wish to point to the passage in Denk. M., p. 728,
1 Y] (=Sanj., vol. XVI, p. 6) which deals with the injuring of the
bodies of birds and the pulling out of their feathers: par(r)-nmismh.
From this survey of passages in which the original meaning of
ru- has proved certain beyond any doubt, we have to conclude that in
the legal case of Mat.Hazar Dat. I., p. 73, 1. 9 the word runit cannot
have a meaning as far remote from the original meaning as the inter-
pretation "to abduct, steal, rob" given by Bartholomae in favor of
his previous reading rowit (see above, p. 71). I think that runit must

1 BSOS, IX, p. 233. Unvala read the word in the Glossary, no. 419, as
rot, which means only "intestines", never "belly, trunk".

INDO-IRANIAN RU-, LU-

TO PLUCK

have here a meaning related to that of the above-mentioned frac-
rutak, "severely plucked (split)" — which we have found among words
designating heavy injuries — , "to pluck with violence", figuratively
for "to deflower", i.e. to pluck (split) the sign of virginity of a woman
under full age (aptirndyik). 1

After we have paid special attention to some meanings of the
word riitak which are not easily understood, it is proper and necessary
to discuss briefly a few peculiarities of the corresponding Arabic
loanword rauSaq. The dictionaries of Vullers and Steingass have
thrown in one article all words which are written rod or roda into one
pot. First of all the vocalization with the Majhul vowel o (therefore
roda and rod), which Vullers and the Arabic and Persian lexico-
graphers assigned to the ModP. word from which the Arabic loan-
word is derived, is wrong. The result of it was that this o was rendered
in the Arabic form by au, as usual, cp. mauzaf, "the boot", MidP.
mocak, ModP. moza, or fauhar, "jewel", MidP. and ModP. gohar,
etc. As the MidP. form of the word under discussion is undoubtedly
riitak — a form rotak cannot be taken into consideration at all — , the
correct vocalization of the Arabic loanword can only be riiSaq.
Therefore A. A. Bevan was perfectly right when he chose, against
the authority of the lexicographers and commentators, the vocaliza-
tion with u in the verse of the Arabic poet Al-Jarir against the poet
al-Farazdaq, whose enemy he was. I am giving only my translation of
the verse: "There is nothing good in the wrath of Al-Farazdaq, after
they have flayed your neck in the way in which one flays the skin of
the plucked (lamb or kid or bird)" (salxa jildi ar-?-iiSaqi). 2

Here we have to quote one more passage in which ru- is used in
its original meaning. It is §ayast-ne-sayast (ed. J. C. Tavadia,
Hamburg 1930), 4, 4, in which it is decided that a girdle made of

1 Cp. e.g. Marathi phodnem and Gujarati phodvum, "to break open, to
burst by violence, to pluck (birds), to deflower".

2 Diwan of Al-Jarir, ed. Cairo, 1313, part 2, p. 25, and The Naqa'id, ed.
A. A. Bevan, vol. 2, p. 845, 10. My translation provides the real meaning of the
word which is in contrast with the dictionaries and commentaries, but in perfect
accordance with the MidP. riitak from which it is derived. There does not exist
any relationship whatsoever with the word roda, MidP. rotik, "intestines".
G. S. Morgenstierne called in his article "Neupersisch riida und Verwandtes"
(Kuhn's Zeitschr., vol. 61, 1934, pp. 29ff.) the connection with the meaning
"intestines" "hardly pleasing", but he did not get to a definite decision, because
the MidP. riitak was not yet known to him. The verse of Al-Jarir is quoted in
the Arabic dictionary Taj al-Arus under rSql

A LOCUST S LEG

leather is not good (from the point of religion), when the hair has
been pulled (stripped) off from it (moS hac-as rut estet).

In the Artak Vlraz Namak, 23, 12, we encounter instead of rut
the stronger word XPRUNt= Iranian kand in the sentence u-s han I
XvesmoS ut res hame kand, "and by him (the former sinner who is now
tortured in hell with hunger and thirst) his own hair and beard was
torn out all the time". The Kurdish verb kandin, which is identical
with MidP. kandan, appears in the phrase pur kandin for "to pluck
fowl" (literally "the hair"), 1 in contrast to par(r)-runismh, "the
plucking out of the feathers" (see above, p. 72).

In other derivatives from ru- the basic notion of the root is used
in a wider sense in such a way that "the plucked one" is understood to
mean "the naked". This is especially the case with the word rutak in
Artak Vlraz Namak, 17, 12, where the ugly incorporation of the evil
den of the dead sinner is described as an ugly woman who is rfitak
and putak ("rotten, i.e. stinking") — the other epithets which she
receives are of no interest here. Haug and West have transcribed the
first of the two words by lutak and connected it with ModP. hit,
"naked, bare", which is however a dialectical (Kurdish) word (cp.
above, p. 70, n. 5). It has now become evident that the correct reading
of the word is riitak and that its meaning "(stripped) naked" is firmly
established. The Persian lexicographer AsadI explains in his Luyat-i
Furs (ed. P. Horn, Berlin, 1894), fol. 10, the above (p. 70) mentioned
word rut correctly by barahna va-tuhi, "naked and empty". Salemann
(Grundr. d. Iran. Phil., 1/1, pp. 268 and 304) and Horn (ibid., p. 28)
have wrongly read liitak (liiSak), which they connected incorrectly
with aluhan, "to pollute", and accordingly translated it by "dirty"
("schmutzig").

I am presenting here only one example of the meaning "bare"
(tuhi) of the word rut (or rut) by pointing to the compounds ser-rut
and pai-rut, "bare-headed" and "bare-footed", respectively (Soane,
I.e., p. 177). There are, besides that, words to be found which are
related to rut and mean "barren", in the sense of "bald" or "beardless
face", or "leafless branch", or "a plain without any vegetation".
However, these and other characteristics of ru and lu- and of related
words in Iran and in India will be discussed on a later occasion. In

1 Soane, Kurd. Grammar, p. 245. About pur, "hair", ibid., p. 214, and
Jaba-Justi, I.e., p. 83.

INDO-IRANIAN RU-, LU-, TO PLUCK

conclusion I wish to add only a few remarks concerning the three
words, (1) MidP. and ModP. res, 1 "beard" (BSogd.: Vess. J. 914
rys'k), from raes, "to spin" (i.e. to pull threads), (2) Skt. paksman-, 2
"eyelashes" (Avesta pasna- "eyelid", MidP. and ModP. pasm, "wool");
(3) roman-, 3 Ionian-, "hair". It is evident that the essential notion of
these words is that they designate primarily threads or feathers which
are the objects of plucking. From that we have to conclude that
roman- too is the expression for an object of plucking and that its
hitherto unknown etymology is now definitely clear; that means that
the word is a derivative of the verb ru- "to pluck".

1 It means also the feather of a bird as well as the wool of a lamb and other
animals, or threads of cotton or silk.

2 Other meanings are the hair of a deer, the fiber of a flower, the feather of
a bird.

3 It means also wool, feathers of a bird, fibers of cotton.

OUTDOOR TERMS IN IRANIAN

By ILYA GERSHEVITCH

The following communication, some of whose contents were presented
in August 1960 to the XXVth International Congress of Orientalists
in Moscow, is mainly based on new dialect material which I collected
in Basakard in 1956. 1 By this humble tribute to a great scholar, patron
of learning, and statesman, whom I was singularly privileged twenty
years ago to count as one of my teachers in Persian, I wish to convey
not only my deep esteem and admiration, but also a sense of personal
gratitude in respect of the subject matter in hand. For without
Mr. Taqizadeh's support in Teheran on the eve of my departure for
Basakard, I could not have sampled the remarkable dialects which
survive precariously in the rugged wilderness of one of the most
beautifully desolate and isolated regions of Iran.

LAND
In what has been called the georgic chapter of the Avesta, viz. book III
of the Vendidad, 2 it is said in §§ 4 and 23 that the most pleasant
districts to live in, are those where man grows the largest amount of
corn, grass, and fruit trees. This statement is followed by the double
clause

(a) yat va anap&m di apam kdrdnaoiti

(b) yat vd dpdm di andpdm kdrdnaoiti.

Bartholomae regarded line (b) as spurious, although all MSS have it
in § 23, and only four omit it in § 4. Line (a) he translated "wo man

1 New abbreviations here used are NBs for Northern BaskardI, SBs for
Southern BaskardI, Bs for BaskardI (applied to features which the two dialect
groups have in common), and Rdb for the dialects spoken in the region of
Riidbar, which lies to the north of Baskardia, and whose capital is Kahnuj. A
preliminary report on the Bs dialects will be published shortly. A description of
Baskardia has been printed in the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society,
XLVI (1959), 213 sqq.

2 F. A. Cannizzaro, II capitolo georgico dell' Avesta, Messina, 1913.

OUTDOOR TERMS IN IRANIAN

zur Wiiste hin Wasser schafft". His unusual interpretation of kdrdna-
oiti rested on the assumption that the hapax di was a preverb, although
no such preverb is attested in any other IE language.

A more attractive rendering, which moreover takes into account
both lines of the clause, was offered by W. Geiger: "where one makes
dry land irrigated, and (where one makes) marsh-land dry". 1 Geld-
ner's 2 and Darmesteter's 3 translation was similar. The interpretation
of dpdm as a thematic adj. meaning "soaked in water, wet" 4 is in
agreement with the Pahl. translation of dpdm as dpomand. On the
other hand, no explanation of the mysterious word di has been offered
in support of this translation, beyond Geldner's suggestion that it
may be a corruption of dya, the fem. instr. sg. of the dem. pron. a-,
referring to an implied substantive zdmd "earth, land", also in the
instr. In fact, the reasonable rendering of the whole passage by the
earlier translators almost forces upon the reader the impression that
di is a neuter substantive meaning "earth", "soil", or "land". As
soon as the word is viewed in this light the archaic Greek alec "earth,
land" presents itself as an obvious cognate, in which suffixation
appears to have reduced a rare type of an IE neuter i stem to a
familiar pattern.

In Iranian, too, a noun consisting of a mere diphthong could
hardly be expected to survive unless its body had been extended by
suffixation. The addition of the common suffix -ka- would give rise
to a stem*dika-, and since long diphthongs were apt to lose their
second element in Middle Iranian, 5 a ready etymology for Pers. xdk
is found, on the assumption that the initial x- is prothetic as in xdya.
xdk does not only mean "soil" and "dust", but also "Erdboden"
(F. Wolff, Glossary, 6 in parts of Baskardia xdk is used as the equivalent
of Persian zamin and Bal. dighdr, in the sense of "ground on which
one walks or sits".

1 Ostiranische Kultur, 385.

2 KZ, XXX, 522.

3 Le Zend-Avesta, II, 34.

4 For similar thematic adjectives cf. Av. tsmataha- "dark", or Ved. nabhasd
"misty, damp".

6 Cf. e.g. Pahl. vaspuhrak, Bartholomae, WZKM, XXV, 254 sqq., or Sogd.
"s-, GMS, § 129.

Cf. dfarinanda-yi db u xdk "the Creator of water and earth", Sdh Ndma
(Vullers), I, 371.872, or z-in xdk cand ast td carx-i mdh "how far is it from this
earth to the moon?", ibid., 411.462.

j8 A locust's leg

With Pers. xak Morgenstierne has connected Kurd, ax, NTS
XII, 266, suggesting a derivation from *dhaka-, and implying that
Kurd, -x here represents an old h. The above considerations rather
suggest that the -x of ax corresponds to the -k of xak, either as an
alternative suffix, 1 or as a secondary development of -k. 2

The i of Av. ai has disappeared in xak and ax, but an indirect
trace of it may have been preserved in the y of the Sogdian word for
"earth", z'y. This is to assume that sat resulted from an early Sogdian
contamination of the Olr. nom. sg. zd(h) of the stem zam-, with the
nom. sg. Si of the stem ai-. One may recall that a comparable develop-
ment may have taken place in Greek, where yccicc "earth" is thought
to be the result of a contamination of yfi and odcc, cf. E. Schwyzer,
Griech. Gramm., I, 473.

SPADE
The Persian word for "spade", bel, has been regarded as a case of
imala, as Persian dialects also have bal. 3 Other variants are MPers.
byr,* Kurd, ber, Arm. bah, and Bal. bard, 6 Gabri (etc.) bard(a). 6
These apparently conflicting forms have long been a puzzle, but they
become less refractory in the light of the new SBs variants bahr, bohr.
Here we have a representative of the Middle Iranian form of which
Arm. bah is a simplification. 7 SBs bahr (of which bahr and bohr are
most probably secondary alterations) and Bal. bard entitle us to start
from Olr. *badra-, a thematic extension of a stem *badar-; the forma-
tion of the latter would have a close parallel in Av. vadar- "weapon". 8

1 Comparable to the -x of Oss. zcex "earth", on which see H. W. Bailey,
TPS, 1945, 13.

2 -x instead of expected -k also occurs in Kurd, berx, barx "lamb", against
Wx zuurk, or SBs vark. It is doubtful whether one may postulate intermediate
arabicized forms *dq, *barq, to be compared with Ar. kurbaq beside Pers. kulba
and Arm. krpak (see A. Siddiqi, Studien ilber die Fremdworter, 73 sq., and
Henning, Sogdica, 55).

3 Cf. Horn, Np. Et., 59, GIP, I 2 , 33, and Sol bal (Andreas, Dialektauf-
zeichniingen, 49), Abiane'I, Semnani bdleh (A.K.S. Lambton, Landlord and
Peasant, 424).

4 Henning, Mitteliranisch, 100, n.2.

6 Morgenstierne, Acta Orientalia, XX (1948), 288.

6 Ivanow, The Gabri dialect, 113 [RSO, XVIII, 7].

7 Cf. Arm. hah (Henning, BSOAS, X, 952, n. 5), pah, zoh, from *kahr,
*pahr, *zohr.

8 In connection with the formation here presumed of Olr. *badra-, one
may also regard OPers. va6 r a- as a thematization of a stem *vadar-. The latter
would be related to *va8a- as Av. vadar- is to vada-. An OPers. stem *va8a-,

OUTDOOR TERMS IN IRANIAN

The metathesized form *bard, which survived unchanged in Bal., was
bound to become bal in Persian, while the unthematic *badar- would
account for MPers. byr and Kurd, ber as contractions of '*bayar.
Pers. bel will then be due to a contamination of ber with bal. Ulti-
mately the reconstructed Olr. stem *badar- can be assigned to the
IE base *bhedh-, which underlies Lat. fodio "to dig", etc.

CHANNEL
Two distinct meanings are attached to the Persian word nav: (1)
"boat", and (2) "canal, aqueduct". 1 In the dialect of Madaglast in
Chitral nau means an open pipe consisting of a hollowed-out tree-
trunk, 2 and in Baskardia words going back to an older *?idvak 3 denote
hollowed-out tree-trunks used for irrigation purposes. The modern
Iranian evidence alone might be used as confirmation of the theory
that the IE word for "ship", nau-, originally meant a hollowed-out
tree-trunk. This theory has hitherto largely rested on the fact that
Norwegian nu means a trough consisting of such a trunk. 4 The evid-
ence is, however, not only modern Iranian, but can be traced back to
the beginnings of Iranian literature.

The Avestan adj. navaya- means not only "navigable", like its
Old Persian counterpart ndviya-, b but is also applied to waters
running in channels. The Pahlavi translators were well aware of the
second meaning, which they rendered by ndu-tdk "running in
channels", and glossed by another word for "channel", kaOas. 6
The natural inference is that Olr. nau-, like NPers. nav, denoted
two distinct contrivances: (1) a ship, and (2) a channel presumably

corresponding to Av. *vasa-, can be postulated on the strength of Oss. uces
"axe", which Sir Harold Bailey has identified as a cognate of Ved. vdii, see
TPS, 1952, 55 sq. This analysis of OPers. va8''a- lends support to the interpre-
tation of OPers. va8 r abara- as meaning "battle-axe bearer", cf. Weissbach, Die
Keilinschriften am Grabe des Darius Hystaspis, 42, and A. T. Olmstead, Hist.
Pers. Emp., 218.

1 For the second meaning cf. also Ps nawa "gutter, tube".

2 See D. L. R. Lorimer, The Phonology of the Bakhtiari . . . dialects, 204.

3 NBs nox (Besnfl), nitog (Darzeh). Thus also Rdb nawok.

4 Some additional support from western languages has been provided by
J. Hubschmid, Revue inter not. d ' onomastique, IV (1952), 17-19, duly quoted by
Pokorny in his Idg. Wb., pp. 755 sq.

5 From "navigable" the meaning "deep" could develop, cf. W. B. Henning,
BSOAS, XII, 309.

6 On kaOas as an explanation of Av. dpo navaya v. Henning, BSOS, IX,
84, 91, and Herzfeld, AMI, II, 63 sq., VII, 103 n., Ap. Inschr. 224 n., 324 n.

80 A LOCUST S LEG

consisting, at least originally, of one or more hollowed-out tree-trunks.
Only by attributing to Olr. nan- also the second meaning do we
obtain a convincing reason why Av. dpo ndvayd is used in the sense of
"channel waters".

Here also Pers ndvddn must be mentioned, which is usually
translated as "gutter, spout", but in its Manujanl form ndudon again
denotes a hollowed-out tree-trunk used as channel. The obvious
derivation of this noun is from an Olr. compound *ndu-tdnu-, in
which *tdnu- will be a side form of Ved. sthdnu "tree-trunk". The
literal meaning of the compound will have been "channel-trunk,
tree-trunk used as channel".

GRASS
The word to be considered is in its Persian form giydh, in MPers.
gy'w, and in Bs gidd(h), gida. 1 The Bs variant, which is common to
both the northern and the southern dialect group, excludes the
possibility, to which one might otherwise have given preference, of a
derivation of Pers. giydh from an Olr. word beginning with vyd-. To
determine the origin of the d of Bs giddQi) it must be noted that both
in NBs and SBs, d can only go back to an Olr. intervocalic t if the
word concerned is a Pers. LW, which gidd(h) evidently is not. In any
case the ancestor of Pers. giydh can hardly have had an internal t.
The dental of the Bs word therefore continues an Olr. intervocalic d
which became y in Persian. The survival of the intervocalic voiced
dental is to be expected in NBs, but can be observed in SBs only
where Olr. d followed an initial vowel that was lost before the muta-
tion of d to y began to take place. 2 The existence of gidd(h) in both
dialect groups of Baskardi thus suggests that the word is a Baluci LW.
For guidance we shall turn to Makrani Baluci, as this is the
variety of Baluci which is spoken in the immediate neighbourhood of
Baskardia. Makr. Bal. has mid "hair" from *mauda-. If we apply the
pattern of this development to gidd(h) we obtain an Olr. word
beginning with *gaudd°, and since the MPers. form of our word has a
final -w, we shall not hesitate to identify gidd(h) with Av. gaoddyu-.
In the one Avestic passage where gaoddyu- occurs it is used, like its

1 Parachi gihdi derives according to Morgenstierne from Pers. giydh, with
reciprocal metathesis of y and h.

2 Cf. SBs dor "udder" < m udar-, against dardyen "hail", to be discussed
under the next heading.

OUTDOOR TERMS IN IRANIAN 8 1

synonym gaoihya-, as an adjective qualifying not grass, but the man
who offers grass to cattle; Bartholomae translated both compounds, as
well as the Gathic gaodayak-, by "looking after cattle". However, the
base dd(y)- properly means "to nourish", and beside gao-ddyah-
Avestan has the adj. drdgu-ddyah- which, as it refers to water, ob-
viously means "nourisher of the poor". Accordingly, the proper
meaning of gao-ddyu- was "cattle-nourisher", which is an appropriate
enough definition of grass.

No phonetic difficulty prevents the assumption of an assimilation
in Persian, by which in proclitic position the 6 of *go-ya° ( < *go-yd°)
became i.

HAIL

Among the interesting words of SBs is ddrdyen, with its variant
drd'en, meaning "hail". It reflects an OPers. form *drdduni-, which
is directly comparable to Ved. hrddihii "hail". The Avestan form
would be *zrddum-.

Once the existence in Iranian of this term for "hail" has been
ascertained, it becomes difficult to believe that Sogd. zyBn "hail"
does not go back to an older *zrddu?it-. The Sogdian word is spelled
zyS[n] in the Paris MS 14, line 10, in which z with a subscript dot
stands for z. The spelling therefore reflects a pronunciation zehen, and
proves that in certain circumstances the Olr. cluster zr became z in
Sogdian, just as Olr. sr became s.

In the case of the Yidya word for "hail", zilo, a parallel for the
change of zr to M is to be found in zoi "lake", from Olr. zrayah-.
Persian, too, has a word for "hail" beginning with z-, zdla, but this
has been said to have no connection with either the Sogdian or the
Yidya word. 1 A connection cannot, however, be excluded, as zdla
may have been borrowed from an Eastern Iranian variant of Sogd.
Zehdn in which no palatalization of a had taken place.

The origin, and even the formation of Ved. hraduni are not clear,
but it is fair to analyse it as an extension by complex suffixation, of a
base *hrad-. 2 One may therefore also take into consideration the Av.

1 E. Benveniste, Textes Sogdiens, 228 22 . For Pers. zdla an Olr. '*jarda- has
been reconstructed, and compared with Lat. gelidus and Ved. hrddi'mi (on the
assumption that its h represents an IE aspirate velar), cf. Horn, GIP, I 2 , 92, and
Morgenstierne, Acta Orientalia, I, 266.

2 Cf. H. W. Bailey's analysis of Ved. angosin in BSOAS, XX, 52.

A LOCUST S LEG

compound zaraSa-ynydi. A paraphrase of the difficult passage in
which it occurs, Vend, i, 14, is given in Gt. Bd. 207,14. 1 There a
reference to hail (takarg) is found at the place where one would expect
a Pahl. equivalent of the Av. compound to appear. 2 It may therefore
be suggested that zaraSa- is written for *zraSa-, and the latter either
really meant "hail", or was thought by the Pahlavi commentator to
have had that meaning because it resembled an Av. word he knew as
*zrdduni-, whose existence would thus be indirectly attested.

OUTSIDE
The peculiar use of Iranian words meaning "outside" to denote
nakedness has not yet attracted attention. In the Sogdian version of
the Vessantara Jataka the children of Sudasan, reduced to slavery, are
said to have been driven away f?yp§t n'y'r SjSa' mwrt'yt (Vjf, 1092 sq.),
in E. Benveniste's translation 'sans pieds, incapables de marcher, 3
morts de faim". The interpretation of fi'ypSt as "sans pieds", apart
from being questionable semantically, meets with a phonological
difficulty, in that it implies the identity of Sogd. fl'y- with the Pers.
privative prefix be-. The two prefixes are irreconcilable, because Pers.
be-, and its MPers. antecedent 'by-, represent an Olr. form with
intervocalic p (cf. Arm. ape-), while in Sogdian an ancient intervocalic
p never becomes /3.

A simple alternative explanation of the Sogd. prefix fi'y- consists
in relating it to the Sogd. adverb f3(')yk "outside". That the latter is
indeed a k extension of a Mir. adverb be "out, away", 4 is shown by
the existence of the un extended form in Pahl., where Bartholomae has
identified it as a component of be-ron "outside", be-tom (MPers.

1 Cf. A. Christensen, Le premier chapitre, 42.

2 Is Pahl. snyhr tkrg a corruption of *snyh-y tkrg = zaraSa-ynydi = "hail-
blow"?

3 Actually n'y'r means "on an empty stomach", v. GMS, § 63. It may be
noted incidentally, that in altering his earlier rendering of prt'mch w'pt in the
Vessantara Jataka from "tomba en avant" to "tomba evanouie" (OLZ, 1960,
p. 9), M. Benveniste seems to have overlooked that this correction had already
been proposed in GMS, pp. 248 sq. M. Benveniste's explanation of prt'mch,
however, differs somewhat from the one I had envisaged. Moreover, his transla-
tion implies that prt'mch is exclusively a fern, adj.; if this were the case, one
would infer that the word is an old -aha- stem. The subject of w'pt is, however,
masc. in VJ 205, 1278, and 1308. It would appear that the -ch (-cy) of prt'mch
(prt'mcy) has adverbial function, like the -c of r'Sc "on the way".

4 H. W. Bailey, BSOS, VII, 73; IX, 1058.

OUTDOOR TERMS IN IRANIAN 83

by-dwm) "extremus", 1 and be-sahrik "outlandish". 2 With Sogd. fyk
goes Pers. beg-dna, Pahl. bek-dnak "stranger", whose synonym bet-
anak in the Frahang-i Pahlavik shows the same be- extended by t. 3
The t extension is further attested in MPers. bydndr "outside", 4
while an n extension is seen in Parth. b'yn "outer". A c suffix which
may, but need not represent the Olr. enclitic -fit, appears in MPers.
bye, Parth. bye, Ziyi? "but". 5 Parth., moreover, has byh "outside".

According to the above interpretation of Sogd. /3'j'-, the literal
meaning of j3'ypS is "whose feet are outside". That this amounts to
saying "barefoot" is borne out by a Bs idiom which consists in
defining any part of the body that is not clad as "being outside". Thus
I recorded SBs sar a-ddr-in (a=Pers. az) "I am bare-headed (lit. I am
with my head outside)", pit a-ddr-om "we are barefoot"; NBs sdr-om
ei-dar-i (explained as "sar-am biriin ast"), sdr-om ei-ddr bud, sdr-et
ei-dar-i or simply sdr-et dar-i, a sdr-i ei-ddr-e ("sar-es birun ast"),
a'un sdr-sun ei-ddr-e "I am, was, thou art, he is, they are, bare-
headed" (ez'=Pers. az; -i, -e="is"); NBs joti-son ei-ddr-a (or ei-ddr
bud) "they were naked" (jore="body"). The addition of the suffix -i
has produced in NBs the adverbially used adjectives pa-eidart "bare-
foot" and jon-eidart "naked".

With a different word for "outside" the same result is achieved
in Rudbari, where pd'dn-om ei-leid-en (lit. "my feet are outside"),
recorded from a Jusi informant, means "I am barefoot". Here leid is
the Rdb variant, also met with in the NBs dialects of Marz and
Kangaru, of Bs and Kermani lard "birun". The same idiom can now
be seen to exist also in Baluci, where the hitherto unexplained com-
pounds sardari "bare-beaded" (Mayer) and khindar "naked" (Dames,
Textbook) literally mean "having one's head, respectively anus,
outside".

To complete the information on the expression in Bs of the
notion of nakedness, the compound pa-xwaves "bare-foot" may be
quoted, which was noticed only in the SBs dialect of the district
known as Gwafr. At first I felt sure that -xwaves harks back to the

1 Zum air. Wb., 50 n.

2 Mitteliranische Mimdarten, III, 34 n.

3 Cf. Nyberg, Hilfsbuch, II, 35.

4 Cf. Henning, ZII, IX, 231 38 , and Barr, Pahl. Ps., s.v. nyndly.

5 Cf. Bartholomae, Zum air. Wb., 51 n. In the Parth. version of the Great
Inscr. of Sapur, line 16, bye means "except".

A LOCUST S LEG

imaginative Av. epithet x v d.aodra- "barefoot", lit. "wearing one's
own, natural footwear". For 9r becoming s in SBs there are other
examples, and -ave- seemed explainable as either from -a-e < -a-e-

< -d-au, 1 with the original hiatus bridged by a glide, or from -awe-

< -awa- < -dwa- < -d-au-, with an exceptional metathesis of the
type represented by Ps noaj "day", which might have been favoured
by the presence of w in the preceding syllable. On further considera-
tion, however, I began to doubt whether -xwaves should not rather be
derived from Av. hvdvastra- "naked", lit. "wearing one's own dress",
which seemed to account more easily for the -ve- of the SBs word,
and, moreover, would make it unnecessary to regard the pa of pd-
xwaves as redundant. Fortunately Dr D. N. MacKenzie was able to
provide the decisive evidence. In his unpublished list of Suleimaniya
Kurdish words, which he had generously placed at my disposal, I
noticed the adj. pexdwis "barefoot". Consulted on the doubt which
beset me, Dr MacKenzie quoted from his collections not only Sul.
and Mukri Kurd. pe-xdzv( u h, and NKurd. pe-xwds, but also Haurami
pd-wirwd "barefoot"; -wirwd, he considers, can be derived from
*wdur- < *xwdu !l r- < *xzvdu8ra-, while Av. hvdvastra-, obviously,
would not account for the Haurami form.

Thus the derivation of Gwafri -xwaves from x v d.ao8ra- is
assured. It illustrates not only the occasional survival in special
combinations, of once common Olr. words which later became
almost extinct, 2 but also the unpredictable popularity of poetic
expressions so daring, that their mere appearance in one or two
Avestan passages would not have warranted the belief that they were
commonly used even in Avestan. 3

1 SBs e < an is attested in res "sun; day".

2 Apart from the words for "barefoot" quoted above, Olr. auBra- has been
recognized only in Khwar. 'wi; "shoe", v. Henning, Mitteliranisch, 109, n.4.

3 The usual Av. word for "naked" is mayna-; cf. Pers. pd-barahna "bare-
foot", bearing in mind Henning's derivation of barahna from *bayna- (v. GMS,
§ 362).

LA CIVILISATION ACHEMENIDE
ET L'URARTU

Par R. GHIRSHMAN

Qu'il me soit permis, en dediant ces quelques lignes a Monsieur
Taqizadeh, de parler d'une civilisation qui florissait, il y a trois mille
ans, sur les terres qui ont vu naitre ce venerable savant? Car, si le
royaume d'Urartu avait comme centre le lac de Van, le lac d'Urmiya,
aujourd'hui lac de Rezaye, et les terres environnantes dont Tabriz
entraient aussi dans la composition de cet Ftat qui, pendant des
siecles: du IXe au Vile siecles avant J.-C, egalait et depassait merae
par moment, la puissance de l'Assyrie, sa voisine et adversaire.

En parlant des arts et de la civilisation achemenides, les manuels
insistent sur leur caractere eclectique: le bas-relief, la colonne, la salle
hipostyle, seraient invites de ceux de l'Assyrie, de l'Fgypte, de la Grece.
Mais, les Perses et les Medes, ces premiers Iraniens qui aient penetre sur
le Plateau auquel ils donnerent leur nom, connurent une autre civilisa-
tion etrangere, dans l'ambiance de laquelle ils durent vivre longtemps
et qui laissa certainement beaucoup plus de traces dans la leur.

Si on peut parler d'infiuences qui marquerent la naissante culture
iranienne, c'est plutot du cote de l'Urartu, dont les Iraniens durent
subir, pendant un certain temps de leurs debuts, la suzerainete, que
doivent se diriger nos investigations.

Des leurs premieres installations, les Iraniens elevent des
terrasses pour y edifier les demeures fortifiees des chefs, et, plus tard,
les palais de leurs princes. Des villes basses entourent ces terrasses.
Cette conception d'urbanisme vient d'Urartu de meme que 1'emploi
de la pierre qui entre dans la construction de la terrasse de Sialic qui
date de la periode proto-mede. 1 L'appareil cyclopeen de la terrasse de
Masjid-i Solaiman 2 est concu d'apres celui que les Medes et les

1 R. Ghirshman, Fouilles de Sialk, vol. II, 1939, p. 24.

2 R. Ghirshman, "Masjid-i Solaiman. Residence des premiers Achemd-
nides", Syria, XXVII (1950), pp. 205-20.

A LOCUST S LEG

Perses durent apprendre chez les architectes urartiens. En effet, on
connait aujourd'hui les restes de plusieurs forteresses urartiennes
dont l'appareillage est cyclopeen. 1 Le Plateau Iranien ignorait cet
appareil avant l'arrivee des Iraniens, tout comme 1'ignoraient les
civilisations voisines de l'lran autres que l'Urartu. La meme observa-
tion est valable pour la taille particuliere des blocs a bossage de la
terrasse de Pasargade, qui ont ete employes dans la construction du
temple du dieu Haldis, a Toprak Kale. 2 Ce changement dans la techni-
que de l'appareillage des pierres chez les architectes achemenides,
est interessant a souligner, puisque l'abandon de 1'appareil cyclopeen
en faveur de blocs plus petits, est observe dans l'architecture
urartienne plus recente. 3 Enfin, en restant toujours dans le domaine
de la technique architecturale, signalons que le dallage des palais
de Cyrus le Grand, a. Pasargade, est fait avec des dalles dont les
couleurs blanches et noires alternent. Or, cette facon de traiter
les sols des batiments royaux n'est connue que dans l'architecture
urartienne. 4

Les maisons de Touchpa, la capitale d' Urartu, comprenaient,
d'apres Mo'ise de Chorene, plusieurs etages; 5 une plaque en bronze
de Toprak Kale, conservee au British Museum, doit en representer
une, et cette architecture si particuliere pour 1' ancient Orient, inspira
certainement les constructeurs du temple, aujourd'hui en ruines, de
Pasargade, et de sa copie qui fut elevee, probablement par Darius le
Grand, a Naqsh-i Rustam: la Ka'ba-i Zardousht.

Les deux types de maisons urartiennes: les unes des regions
chaudes, a cour centrale, d'autres des hautes vallees, au climat rude,
a salle centrale remplacant la cour et autour de laquelle se groupaient
les autres pieces, 6 ne seraient-ils pas a la base de l'architecture royale
achemenide, le plan des secondes inspirant ceux des palais perse-
politains?

Le rocher de Touchpa- Van est creuse en plusieurs endroits de
pieces dans lesquelles on a fini par reconnaitre, depuis Lehmann-

1 C. A. Burney, "Urartian fortresses and towns in the Van region",
Anatolian Studies, VII (1957), pp. 37-53.

B. B. Piotrovski, Vannskoie tsarstvo, Moscou, 1959, p. 199.

2 B. B. Piotrovski, op. cit., p. 201.

3 Ibid., p. 199.
" Ibid., p. 202.

5 K. L. Oganessian, Karmir Blur, IV, 1955, p. 7.
" Ibid., p. 35.

LA CIVILISATION ACHEMENIDE ET L'URARTU 87

Haupt, des tombes princieres urartiennes. 1 Avec les Medes, cette
pratique des tombes rupestres apparait sur le Plateau oil nous en
connaissons quelques-unes de cette epoque: Dukkan-i Daud, pres de
Sarpul-i Zohab; Fahrika, au sud du lac d'Urmiya, region qui entrait
dans la composition du royaume d' Urartu; Farhad u Shirin, pres de
Sehne, sur la route entre Kermanchah et Hamadan; la tombe scytho-
mede de Kizkapan, dans le Kurdistan iraquien. En faisant tailler
sa tombe dans le rocher de Naqsh-i Rustam, Darius le Grand ne fit
que perpetuer la tradition transmise par les Medes et qui avait deja
ete adoptee par un de ses predecesseurs, peut-etre Cambyse I, pour
qui une tombe rupestre fut preparee a Da u Dukhtar, sur la route
entre Masjid-i Sulaiman et Pasargade.

On connait le role que jouait dans Fart iranien, a Sialk ou au
Luristan, la representation plastique des animaux sur les vases, et qui
etait le meme sur les chaudrons d'Urartu. Encore plus frappant serait
l'usage commun aux deux peuples des tenons ou des attaches en
forme de "sirene". Les tenons en forme d'etre male represente en
buste et dote d'ailes, qui semble proteger le liquide sacre que contient
le vase du Luristan, expriment exactement la meme idee que les
tenons analogues que nous retrouvons sur les chaudrons d'Urartu.

Les principes d'urbanisme, les realisations architecturales, les
traditions funeraires ou les monuments figures des arts ainsi que les
techniques du travail du metal de la civilisation urartienne ne furent
pas tout ce que celle-ci passa aux Iraniens. N'a-t-on pas reconnu dans
la tradition rapportee par Herodote (III. LXXXV) et selon laquelle
Darius obtint la couronne et la royaute grace a son ecuyer et a son
cheval, celle d'apres laquelle le roi Rusa d'Urartu avait conquis son
trone avec ses chevaux et son conducteur de char? 2

L'Urartu fut le premier royaume de Fantiquite a introduire
l'usage des inscriptions royales lapidaires- bilingues, que nous re-
trouvons chez les Perses depuis Cyrus le Grand, qui sont le plus
anciennement connues. Et nous terminerons notre apercu de la koine
irano-urartienne en insistant sur le fait que meme les traditions des
chancelleries urartiennes furent suivies par celles des Perses. Car, ce
n'est ni dans les textes babyloniens, ni dans ceux d'Assyrie ou d'Elam,
mais seulement dans ceux d'Urartu qu'on divisait une inscription

1 B. B. Piotrovski, op. cit., p. 216 ss.

2 F. W. Konig, Alteste Geschichte der Meder und Perser, Der Alte Orient,
Band 33, Heft 3/4, Leipzig, 1934, p. 46.

88 A locust's leg

royale en fractions dont chacune commencait par: "Parle le roi (un
tel)", ce qu'on retrouve dans les inscriptions officielles des rois
achemenides qui furent, peut-etre, copiees sur celles des Medes. 1

Les liens culturels que nous avons tente de faire ressortir comme
un trait saillant et commun aux deux grandes civilisations de l'Asie
occidentale ancienne, ne peuvent, a notre sens, n'etre que le resultat
de contacts occasionnels des deux voisins. Aussi bien 1'eloignement
territorial que le decalage chronologique des dates des deux royaumes,
urartien et perse, s'y opposent. Au cours de l'existence de ces deux
peuples il a du y avoir une periode bien plus ancienne ou la culture
d'Urartu devait dominer celle des Perses pour l'avoir marquee d'une
penetration aussi profonde. Cet etat de choses, n'a pu, croyons-nous, se
produire que du fait qu'un rapport etroit et continu a du s'etablir entre
les deux peuples qui devaient vivre dans une dependance assez etroite
l'un de l'autre. Les sources historiques ne le contredisent pas quand
elles revelent qu'a la seconde moitie du IXe siecle, Salmanasar III
trouva les Perses deja installed dans le pays de Parsua et les Medes
plus a l'est, tous sur les terres proches du lac d'Urmiya. Or, c'est la
que s'etendirent les conquetes urartiennes graces auxquelles ces deux
peuples iraniens entrerent dans le sein de ce royaume qui en engloba
tant d'autres, aussi bien de l'lran du nord-ouest que de la Transcau-
casie et de la Syrie du nord. C'est la, en vassaux de l'Urartu, que les
Iraniens ont du puiser dans ce que cette brillante civilisation urar-
tienne pouvait leur offrir pour faconner la leur qui passait encore du
stade semi-nomade a celui de sedentaire.

Si la these est juste, elle entraine vers un autre probleme, celui
du chemin que suivirent les Perses et les Medes avant de penetrer sur
le Plateau. Ce n'est pas par celui qui passe par les plaines de l'Oxus et
de l'Yaxarte, ni par celui qui borde a Test la mer Caspienne, que
durent s'acheminer ces tribus iraniennes. On les verrait plutot arriver
de la Russie du sud et passer par le Caucase pour atteindre les terres
du nord-ouest du Plateau et se fixer pres du lac d'Urmiya, avant que
les Perses, a la suite de conditions encore mal connues, ne poursuivent
leur glissement vers le sud-ouest de l'lran. Ni pour les Perses et les
Medes, ni pour les Cimmeriens et les Scythes qui suivirent la meme
route, les chaines du Caucase ne dresserent de barriere infranchis-
sable.

I. M. Diakonov, Istoria Midii, Moscou-Leningrad, 1956, p. 367.

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS
FROM THE TIME OF RUDAKl

By W. B. HENNING

It may not be wholly inappropriate if in a volume dedicated to an
eminent Persian scholar, whose contribution to the study of early
Persian literature has been outstanding in range and quality, some
account is given of certain manuscripts that, although insignificant in
extent, full of gaps — one could almost say: consisting of gaps — , and
written in a non-Persian alphabet, have the great virtue of having
been written at the very beginning of Persian literature, actually in the
lifetime of Rudaki himself. In a paper read to the XXIVth Inter-
national Congress of Orientalists, Munich 1957, I described one of
these manuscripts, a fragment of a Persian version of Bilauhar u
Budisaf (Barlaam and Josaphat); see Akten des 24sten . . . Kongresses,
305-7 (summary) and Qadlmtarin nusxe-yi si'r-i fdrsi, Tehran 1337 1
(full text in Dr Yarshater's translation). This fragment is presented
here (I) for the first time, together with a later-discovered piece of a
Persian Qaslde (II), also from the great collection of Manichaean
manuscripts in the Berlin Academy. 2

Before laying the texts before the reader, it will be useful to
describe briefly the orthography used in Manichaean Persian. 3 It is
both bizarre and erratic. The scribes, accustomed to writing Middle
Persian (and Parthian and Sogdian as well),- applied the old familiar
spellings also to Persian words, however much their forms had

1 Also in Majalle-yi Ddniikade-yi Adabiyyat, V, 4.

2 It gives me great pleasure to take this opportunity to express sincere
gratitude to the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften and in particular to
Professor Dr H. Grapow, the Director of its Institut fur Orientforschung,
for the permission to make use of the precious materials preserved in the
Institut.

3 The remarks following here are concerned with the whole of the Mani-
chaean Persian material, not merely with the manuscripts published in this
article.

a locust's leg

changed, but did so without system and allowed adequate representa-
tions of current speech to stand beside antiquated forms. The Middle
Persian disguise is sometimes so perfect that only an occasional
Arabic word betrays the true character of the language. The word for
"and", pronounced u, is still written 'wd (ij\), the Idafe-particle l
appears as 'yg (<-^*) or 'y, the abstract ending -l is -yh or -yyh, the 3rd
singular of presents ends in -yd but was pronounced in -ad (or perhaps
-ed), words in final -e and -a are still spelt in -g and -'g, and this on
occasion even affects Arabic loan-words, e.g. jwmlg=*L^. Influence
of Sogdian orthography may be detected in x'n'g "house" (for the
expected x'ng), kwn'nd "they do" (beside kwnnd), swz'ndg "burning",
and the like. Quite modern forms abound, e.g. z-, in zw, z'yn "from
him, from this" beside 'c (and 'z) "from", fy or;' "place" (MPers.
gy'g), b' "with" beside 'b'g, k'=ke for MPers. ka, hi, and kg, etc.

In metrical passages the spelling takes little notice of the form of
the words required by the verse : the metre is not meant for the eye.
Thus 'wd 'yn gwf (Ujf (jS- Ajl) suggests four syllables nd in gujd,
but is proved to be trisyllabic (- - -) by the metre and thus has to be
read umgwja "and this which", = classical uinkujd U&ij , with a note-
worthy voicing of k after -n-\ contrariwise, w"?icy=ua?ice represents
the true speech-form. There are cases of the licence, occasionally
found in classical Persian poetry, of combining the Idafe-particle
with a preceding -e into a single long syllable (-«' from -e'i), but_the
orthography is not conducive to their detection; e.g. rysg 'yg («-K£jj
iX^) "the root of" counts as a disyllable, risei (- -). This mode of
spelling makes it virtually impossible to establish the metre in broken
passages.

The history of Manichaean Persian was too brief to permit the
fixing of spelling rules, such as are created by a long tradition of
schooling. Each scribe, it seems, had a method of his own. There are
thus some differences between the two texts published here. The one
scribe writes pd for the preposition pa (later ba) and ny for the
negative particle, the other prefers single letters, p- and «-, joined to
the following words. The scribe of the Qaside allows an occasional
-8- for postvocalic -d- ('ryS "he brings", nbwlm "I was not"), but
mostly writes -d-\ the other has -d- throughout. The verb "to open"
is spelt with g- in the one text (gws'y), with k- in the other: bkws'dmt
"I opened it for you" (which the metre shows to have been read as
buksdSamat). The latter conforms to the general Central Asian (and

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS

9 1

Indian) pronunciation of the word (kusudan, etc.), yet gws'y need not
be considered a West-Persian form but may represent a late Middle
Persian spelling (cf. gws'd beside normal wys'd). 1

The alphabet used is the ordinary Manichaean one in its Central
Asian form, i.e. the basic stock of 22 Aramaic letters, transliterated
(in Abjad order) as 'bgdhwzhtyklmns'pcqrst, plus
various accretions: /? y S f j x (<_3 i- i Jr r), A letter previously
found only in Manichaean Turkish is k or q with two dots, here used
for Arabic q. 2 A new letter is 'Ain with two dots to represent Arabic
'Ain; 3 for this we write *. The scribe of the Qaside, adhering to
classical Middle Persian tradition, tends to disregard the letter / and
render the sound / by p, but only in Persian words; for / in Arabic
words he sometimes employs a p with two dots. 4 The Manichaean
letter S, which had been borrowed from Sogdian, had two values,
S and 8 (i and o); it is here sometimes used for Arabic 8, e.g. in
mSl=?tiadal "proverbial saying", but ordinarily that sound is ex-
pressed by a double S, B often with intertwined tops, which we
transliterate as 8, e.g. tdlyd=tadlid "trine". 6 Finally, the enclitic -e
"one" is expressed sometimes by the numeral sign "1" (reproduced
as "-I"), sometimes by the letter -y with two dots; this may also serve
generally to render final -e (occasionally -at?) and to distinguish it
from -f, e.g. yky=yake "a single", hmy (also hmyy)=hame "always",
wyy=wai "he". 7

Letters that are partially destroyed, faded, or otherwise doubtful
are enclosed in round brackets ( ); those in square brackets [ !
have been added by me to fill gaps in the manuscripts.

I. 3ILAUHAR U BUDISAF

The principal fragment (its reconstruction has been described in the
paper mentioned above, p. 89) consists ' of a sheet (Doppelblatt)

1 Alternatively, the -k- may have been due to assimilation (buhl- from
bugs-) and the spellings may reflect a genuine distinction (gusdy- : buksdy-) in
the living language, which by analogy led to the generalized Eastern form with k-.

2 It must be remembered that the letter q (without dots) expresses ordinary
k (occasionally g); similarly t expresses t (sometimes d).

3 Undotted 'Ain, of course, has the value of Alif before front vowels.

4 One could infer from this that Arabic /, even in Persian pronunciation,
was markedly different from Persian /.

5 Double S was already used in Sogdian, with preference for 6 (but also for S).
It would be awkward to write tSSlySS instead.

7 Perhaps pronounced zue?

92 A LOCUST S LEG

damaged at the bottom and outside margins; see Dr Boyce's Catalogue
under M 581. Which of its two leaves (A and B) preceded the other
it is in the nature of things impossible to say, except by the contents;
in the same way the contents alone can tell which position the sheet
occupied within its section (Lage), how many pages therefore are
missing between the two leaves.

On the verso of A a chapter heading speaks of Bilauhar's separa-
tion from Biidisaf and his return (next night). This I originally took
to agree with p. 69 of the Bombay print, but in fact it corresponds far
more closely with the similar passage Bombay p. 83, line 1 "on this
they parted that night; then he came back to him next night (al-
qdbilah), greeted him, was greeted in return, and sat down"; which
passage is followed immediately, in the Bombay text as in our frag-
ment, by the question about Bilauhar's age. The preceding page is an
elaborate version of Bombay p. 82, lines 11-15, admonitions to
Biidisaf to examine his mind and free himself from doubt. The whole
of A thus corresponds with a single page of the Bombay print, 82
line 11 — 83 line 10. Leaf B refers to Bilauhar's personal spiritual
experience (verse 14, cf. Bombay 89 pu. — 91), sums up his discussions
with Biidisaf (verses 15, 19, 22, 23), advises him against rashness
(24, 26), viz. in his plan to join Bilauhar as an ascetic, announces that
he is on the point of leaving him (verse 20, cf. Bombay 123, line 2 sqq.)
and entrusts the hope of meeting him again to God (20 and 21). These
passages, unless I grossly misunderstand their purport (which in view
of the broken text is perfectly possible), indicate that Bilauhar is
speaking of his final departure (Bombay 135, line 12), certainly not of
another meeting "next night", and therefore exclude the possibility
of placing B before A. Thus B forms part of the long sermon that
follows upon the question about Bilauhar's age, Bombay 86 sqq. A
couple of sheets (=8 pages), perhaps a single sheet (4 pages), may
suffice to cover the gap between A and B.

That this Persian version of Bilauhar u Biidisaf did not lack the
tales that are so essential a part of the whole composition, is proved
by an additional small fragment of the same manuscript (C) that Dr
Boyce kindly brought to my notice (=M 9130). It is unfortunately
too insignificant to allow of further inferences. It would be tempting
to restore ](g)r byh[ (verse 32) to [j'dzvjgr byh[wii\ x and discover here

1 jddugar Bihiln would fit neatly into the verse.

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS

the sorcerer whose name is spelt dj^JI in the Bombay text, 1 but this
may be too adventurous and the verse in question more likely belonged
to one of the tales.

A metrical fault is the case of fa' ildtun in the first foot of 16b,
since otherwise fa Hldtun alone occurs. Elision of an unusual kind has

to be assumed in 8 (pa andise 'ndard , or even pdndise

'ndard -, see below) and 27 (q.v.). Frequently a word begin-
ning with a vowel is not tied with the preceding consonant, e.g. hm 'c
26 is measured as — , hence ham 'az, not hamaz. This, a matter of
syllabification, is regarded as permissible; nevertheless, pd 'y?i my'n 12
(the reading, however, is doubtful) as — ^ - is intolerable; for this
was surely pronounced padin (badin), not pa d 'in. A graver fault is the
excessive use of ornamental -a at the end of lines; while each separate
case could be excused (thus rausand and andard occur in the Sdhndme,
and -a after a 2nd sing, is fairly common, cf. Horn, Grd. Ir. Phil.,
i, 2, p. 152), it is impossible that a good poet should have employed
such an artifice in three out of four successive verses (24, 26, 27).
This by itself suffices to compel me to withdraw my altogether too
hasty suggestion that Riidaki might have been the author of our work.
We shall have to attribute it to a contemporary imitator of him, and
not too skilful a one at that.

This is a good opportunity to draw attention to the Manichaean
character 2 of an important part of the "wisdom" of the book as it
appears in the Arabic texts, in spite of superficial islamicisation. Most
striking is the prophetology in the Bombay print, pp. 60-1 (in
Rehatsek's translation of the abridgement, JRAS, 1890, p. 140),
where the very wording compellingly recalls authentic Manichaean
writings:

aLJl *-, Jstll ^kij oLj>JI y J-^ J"' (J> \ ii^~' <!>" J* 1 "' <J'

'isyC^ iuJl ^£- lJjjI i^UI jjyiJI J "^Jj "*-3l

and further on with regard to the deterioration of earlier religions:

1 It has invariably been emended, cf. Kuhn, p. 29.

2 On the general question see the excellent introduction to D. M. Lang's
The Wisdom of Balahvar, 1957, especially pp. 24 sqq.

A LOCUST S LEG

A Recto

1 t' [ny] b'sd rwsn '[nd](r)[ ]
cwn dylt swd a ) by-I-gwm['nt>) ]

2 'r qwnyy cwny(n) k' gw(f)[tyy] c ) m[r mr' ?]
j'y gy r yd d ^ xwd sxwn dyl(t) e ) 'nd[r' ?]

3 by(x) [']wd rysg 'ygf) d'nys 'ndr d[yl bk'r]
p[s ? brwyyd] nrd 'wd s'x u [brg u b'r]

4 hr sxwn [y]' pwrsys u jw[g) j
hr cyt "yd zw gwm'n 'ndr [ |

5 b'z pwrsys b'r 'yg [ j
hr cy xw'hy(h) t' bgwfyyh) ]

6 wrt byrwn 'm[d

b' dyl 'y[g ' ]

7 nyk b(l)k['i) ? ]
b'r'ygd[ ]

[1-3 verses missing]

(a) = sud. — (b) By mistake for byhg- — be-gum[an]. — (c) Or gw(j)[tm] m[ ? —
(d) = girad. — (e) Very feeble trace of -t, possibly merely dyl. — (f) = rlsei. —
(g) Not/zc['6]! Poss. jw\ndg 'yg jzv'b], and [sawdb] in b? — (h) Or bgw[ym] . — (i) -l-
almost entirely disappeared, but no other letter fits traces.

A Verso [Plate IV]

8 [ r](f)t byrwn 'c d[r](')

[ ](py)a) pd 'ndysg '(nd)[r]'

Heading in [ ](lw)hr ('c) b ) jwd'g (ornamentation)

coloured ink [ ]b'z '(m)d(n) 'yg bylwhr (ornamentation)

9 [ ](il) c ) 'c ps by'md nyz (b')z

[ ] qrd 'wd bwrd ['wr' nm'Jz

10 [pys 'yg wyy ?](bn)syst Q ) 'wd bwdysfs e ) (g)wft
[ ]r [ny]st br tw br nhwft

11 [ ] ■ • ■ 'wd jwz 'yn sk'l

[ ] . g(w)[d](s)tgf) end s'l

12 [ ]-I pd 'yn m(y'n)g)

[ ] . . (zy)n zm("n)h)

13 [ ] . wy . . . (b)wydi)

[ ]qwd(k) [s]w[y]d

(a) Possibly -ft = xuft? But then pa 'ndise 'ndardl — (b) Very doubtful. — (c)
pagdh unlikely. — (d) Spelling: cf. Salemann, Zum mp. Passiv, 271 line 2. — (e)
The principal tear between d and y, but these two letters quite certain. — (f) [S]
not possible here, because its top would be visible; [z] out of the question. — (g),
(h) Doubtful. — (i) = buwad or buwid.

TAQIZADEH VOL.

u% x

s, * x «, '<■■ m-i -4 j, .>*

■

*5'

*8?

&\£

-1 s\ ~- *

*' *

"* 4i^i -v-i ' i' « i i 4 '.- "•'

Bilauhar u Budlsaf (A verso and B recto)

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS 95

Translation

1 Before it will be clear in ... . when your heart has become free
of doubt ....

2 If you do as [you] said [to me], 1 the word will take hold in your
heart.

3 [Plant] the root and stock of wisdom in [the heart, then there will
grow its] trunk 2 and branch, [its leaves and fruit].

4 Any saying or question and .... anything from which doubt
comes to you in ... .

5 Again a question .... the fruit of .... whatever you want to
say 3 ....

6 If there has come out your .... with a heart of ... .

7 Good, rather .... the fruit of [wisdom] ....

[Gap of 1-3 verses]

8 .... he 4 went out by the door .... he 5 [lay down] troubled in
his mind.

Heading: .... Bilauhar parted .... the return of Bilauhar.

9 [At nightfall] thereafter he did indeed 8 come back, made ....
and bowed to him.

10 He seated himself [before him] and Budisaf 7 said to him: ....
is not hidden from you.

11 .... and apart from this, consider 8 .... passed how many
years?

12 .... a single .... meanwhile (?).... from this period ....

13 .... will be ... . becomes a child 9 ....

1 Or: as [I] said [....]?

2 nard, on which see Sogdica, p. 4, is a fairly uncommon word. Asadi quotes
Kisa'i for it; it occurs in the Sdhndme.

3 Or: you want me to say.

4 = Bilauhar.
6 = Budisaf.

ntz harks back to BilaUhar's announcement (= ed. Bombay, p. 82, lines
10-11) that he would leave but return.

' Strictly one should perhaps write Bodisaf. I have generally avoided
7najhirf-vo-wels, partly because they serve to confer an outlandish look on quite
familiar Persian words, and partly because their use has degenerated into a mere
mannerism.

8 s(i)kal = later sigdl.

9 Corresponding with tifl ed. Bombay, p. 83, line 4, therefore part of
Budisaf's remonstrance against Bilauhar's assertion that he was twelve years
of age.

9 6

A LOCUST S LEG

B Recto [Plate IV]
z'nk' d'nystm [
'mdm nzdyk dy(dm)[
'wd 'yn gwj' a ) gw(f)[tm b )
k'yn (n)h'd(y)st(nd)[
s'n [>d 'y(yn) [
sxwn 'yg d(')[nys
nw gwz(yn)'n d.[
t' sxwn pd [
cwn (swy)d c ) mr(d) [
xwd (q)wn(y)[d] c ) q[
'yn (gwj') d > gwftm '[
w"n (cy)d) m'nd (')c (k)[
rftm (')knwn rn(j) b(wr)d(m) [
zwd m['n] e ) dyd'r b'yd [

[1-3 verses missing]

(a) = uingu]a.—(b) Cf. 19.— (c) = sawad, kunad.—(d) Very faint, but hardly in
doubt"— (e) A tear in the paper makes it difficult to estimate the gap; hardly m[«].

B Verso

21 [ ]yd yzd a ) zm'n

r ]bwyd b ) dyd'rm'n

22 [ ] 'yg mn d'nyy cy cyz
[ ] ny fr'mwsyh c ) bnyz

23 i p]'swx d'dmt

i ]bkws'dmt d )

24 j ]xwd r'yy' e )
[ ]y'd "ry'

25 | ]bd dr mnyys

j ] y'bd ks bwnsf )

26 [ ]byh k' xwd prhyzy'
j ]('w)d hm 'c tyzyy'

27 [ ]' s(xwn)g)? (m)ngwsn'h)

I s](x)wn pd (xrd)i) (sw)[yd] xwd rwsn'

(a) = izad. — (b) = buwad. — (c) = "si. — (d) = 6uW-.— (e) = xPad-rayiya (-ra'y-
l-d). — (f) = bun-is. — (g) Illegible, but no other reading probable (the last two
letters suggest -yd or -yr at first sight). — (h) Hardly 'ng-. — (i) Doubtful; feeble
traces. Metrically pa-xrad with elision (cf. ba-bhist in the Sdhndme, Noldeke,
Nationalepos*, p. 96, line 5) as in the (etymologically identical) compound
bixrad "wise", which is apparently not meant here.

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS

16
17
18
19
20

22
23

24
25
26

Since I realised

Translation
. , I came close (and) saw .

And this which I said
this ....

Fashion and custom . .
Those newly chosen 2 .
When a man becomes .
This which I said

for they (?) have established 1

. the word of wisdom ....
. . until the word through ....
. . . , he himself makes ....
and that which remained from ....
I am on my way now, I have undergone troubles .... Soon
[another] meeting will come 3 for us ... .

[Gap of 1-3 verses]
. . . . God will [determine] the time [when] .... we shall see
each other [again].

[if] you know what is my ... . you will never forget ....
I have given answers to your [questions], I have undone
your [puzzles] ....

[if] you are wilful .... you will call to mind ....
in disposition .... [no] one will reach its ground,
you should [seek] to restrain yourself .... also from
rashness.
. . . speech [devoid of Reason] is guile and blandishment (?), 4
. . . just by Reason speech becomes luminous.

First page 3 -)

[

['z h]mg sxtyh [

(c')rg 'yg rs[tn

]z u x(m)[
](gw)s u (zb)['n

]

1 nihddistand (the ending is doubtful), a perfect with -ist-, a type of form
that ace. to Maqdisi, B.G.A. iii, 334, 8-9, was peculiar to Nisabur. It is common
enough in classical Persian, but is usually read with -ast-. Cf. Horn, Grd. Ir.
Phil., i, 2, p. 154, who quotes nihddastl from Vis u Rdmin.

2 Hardly "those choosing the new".

3 bayad = bi-dyad rather than "it is required".

1 No Persian word ending in -ngwsn is known to me; the first letter is
uncertain, but was probably ?;;.-. Provisionally I assume that mngwsn = mang-u-
san (-au- of rausand need not rhyme), a collocation of mang "fraud", u "and",
and san, a word that according to the lexicographers means ndz ve kirisme (the
verse in Vullers is found in the Farhang-i Jahdngiri). Or else "henbane and
hemp" (meaning "poisonous nonsense").

9§
30

A LOCUST S LEG

d'st'n 'yg [

hr (k)s-I r' (h)[

Second page

31 | ](r)ftg'(h)[
[ ]hr qs (k)[ ]

32 ] ■ 1" sh EMi ■ -] b)

]gr byh[ . . ]b)

33 ]bwd-I zw jwd'g

]bs"[sn](')gc)

(a) The order of the pages cannot be ascertained.— (b) Of w in g(m)[ only a tiny
fraction is preserved, but enough to make all other letters improbable. The /; of
byh[ is drawn out, indicating that very little is missing at the end: one or two
small letters, or a medium-sized letter and a small one at the most. Without
knowing whether the vowel of byh[ was short or long, whether therefore byh[ is
the penult or the antepenult, no safe restoration is possible; 4, of course, may
be either short or long. One might consider, e.g., gun : Bikun; or guzva : bi-haya,
etc.— (c) No other word apparently fits; rhyme in mere -a is permitted.

Translation
28 1 .... ear and tongue ....

29 The means of escaping .... from all hardships ....

30 The fable of .... for every one ... .

31
32
33

went at a time (?).... every one ....

all three ... . 2 ... . 3

a jar (?) 4 separate from it 5 ... . familiar [with] its

II. A Qaside
This fragment of a Qaside in Manichaean writing may not merely
claim a place among the many singularities in the Berlin collection,

1 28-30 may precede or follow 31-3. Thus 31-3 could be part of the fable
announced in 30.

2 witnesses? modes?

a shameless? sorcerer Bihun?

4 If [ ]bwd-I is the remains of [s]bwd-I (and not, e.g., of [q]bwd-I "a
blue . . . ."). Sabud (strictly saboS) is an old form (classical sabuy) used e.g. by
Asadi. That its -d- is original is shown by the Armenian loanword (not hitherto
recognized as such) sap'or (hence Old Iranian *sapauda).

6 Of all the Barlaam stories there is only one into which these words fit: the
fifth of the additional tales of Ibn Babuye. As the fourth is already known in a
Manichaean version (von LeCoq, Tilrkische Manichaica, i, 5-7), it is possible
that these tales formed part of our Persian work. However, what is left of
verse 32 fails to agree with this supposition (perhaps there were three thieves?).

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS

but also deserves some notice as the earliest surviving Persian poem
of its kind. Judged by the type of script, the fragment (M 786)
appears to be even older than that of Bilanhar u Budisaf, which I
attributed to the first half of the tenth (Christian) century. Differently
from that manuscript, its text is not set out in verse-lines, but written
continuously like prose; in compensation, the ends of lines and verses
were marked by punctuation dots and spacing. Only a single book-leaf,
heavily damaged on the interior side, has survived. All except two
lines are incomplete; several large holes disfigure the page and the
writing has almost disappeared in some places. However, in spite of
all the damage neither the nature of the text nor its metre is in doubt.

The metre is a common form of Muddri' : maf'idu fd'ildtu
mafd'ilu fd'ildt (with frequent "taskin" , viz. maf'idu fa'ildtun maf'ulu

fd'ildt), i.e. — ^ _ „ - ^ „-; the rhyme is in -dr. Virtually all

Persian poets have used this metre with this rhyme, from Rudaki
onwards (for whom see Nafisi, iii, pp. 998 sq., lines 214-15). In the
handling of the metre there are clearly several irregularities, and
although one can find parallels for each of them in the early Persian
poets it would be impossible to find a parallel for the use of so many
of them within so small a compass, only parts of thirteen verses
having been preserved. Yet a work from the infancy of Persian poetry
cannot be expected to conform to the rules gradually developed in the
course of centuries.

Although at the first sight of a photograph of this manuscript I
recognized the poetical character of its text and its metre, or intended
metre, for several years I failed to get a clear idea of its contents.
However I filled in the numerous gaps, the resulting sentences
seemed devoid of meaning. If at last I have succeeded, to a certain
extent, it was principally due to an assumption I made: that the poem
had originally been written in Arabic script arid was then transliterated
into Manichaean script by a man who did not understand it properly.
Such an assumption would account for the otherwise incompre-
hensible cwzg'hyy (line 20), for the omission of the Idafe-particle (at
least four times) 1 and the word for "and" (line 22) and the substitu-
tion of one for the other (line 12). With its help I have attempted a
reconstruction of parts of the poem, which, although perhaps a little

1 Throughout in positions where its presence or absence makes no differ-
ence metrically. It could be added also in, e.g., 1 b (strdb-i) and 6 b (markab-i).

10007500211433
al&Juh i^jS_>« wlaJj£

Central U-.-erv

Ifihfifl Um%r^:<

100

A LOCUST S LEG

fanciful, will, I hope, not be regarded as deviating unreasonably far
from its basis. To enable the reader to form an opinion of his own, I
am giving first the text as it stands, without embellishments; it is un-
biased, except that in one or two places opinions may vary on the
true reading of faded or half destroyed letters (enclosed in round
brackets).

As reconstructed, the poem 1 appears to be an elegy put into the
mouth of a man already in his grave. His spirit complains (verse 2) in
general terms of the bad times (verse 3) and the spoiling of virtuous
effort through evil forces (verse 5), but chiefly of the callous and
hypocritical manner in which his companions have abandoned him to
his fate and forgotten him (7-13). The whole abounds with Muslimic
phrases and imagery (Hariln, Nilh, Yiisuf, Dhulfaqdr, jawab in the
grave). Yet although on the face of it no Muslimic censor could have
found fault with it, we should remember that this is a Manichaean
poem and realize that the apparent meaning conceals a hidden sense.
Then the speaker becomes the viva anima, grho zindag, the "Living
Soul", that is ever suffering through malice and neglect, cast aside
and trampled on, a stranger in this evil world. So understood, the
poem may be regarded as a witness to the adaptability of Manichaean
propaganda, to its readiness to assume ever fresh disguises in order
to meet the demands of the times. Just as in earlier centuries Christians
and Buddhists had complained of Manichaean unscrupulousness, so
the adherents of Islam were justified in being on their guard against
crypto-Manichaean zindiqs, who concealed their true thoughts behind
an impenetrable hedge of familiar phrases.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Text
Recto [Plate V]
Jsyyr'b 'bd'r oo oo rrd' a )

](s)t(g) k' pr[ . ] m'nyd 'z jw'b
](S)[ . ](l)pk'r . (k)lt>) gws'y sxwn

] ■ r[ .]'[.] 'z > (z)m'ng

. . . ]hr (m)r . [ . . . ]n oo pry'd 'z

. ](m'ng) z(m)[ . ](n)g «y sty[ ]

] u . . (w'ry) . [ ]

1 It is a "qaslde" only in form; in several ways it calls to mind the poetry
found in the Divan of Nasir-i Khusrau.

TAQIZADEH VOL.

A Qaslde (recto)

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS

IOI

](h'rw)nO [ . . ](z)[ . ]
] oo b'd 'yg

]

oo (hr)

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

(a) Mistake for drd'. — (b) Two dots above first letter; (k) may have been the
first or second letter of the word. — (c) or (hyr')n! — (d) Text up to mn on a thin,
elongated tongue of paper showing just the letters. Words written above the
line would have disappeared. Not certain, but probable that the line began with
hw{nr) (the i?-dot is not visible, so it could have been ]hzv(nd) ). One can hardly-
read hiv' instead. — (d) Either 'y + g [ . . ] or 'yg with the remainder of the line
left blank. — (e) The bottom stroke of k only visible; the precise place of k (or,
equally possible, x) cannot be determined. — (f) Or ].ai(V)m. The preceding
letter either £ or s. — (g) Or ]'»-. — (h) Or s[ . . ]r.

iw(nr) d ) (p)y(s) 'y mn 'ryS sr'b 'y

] smwm 'yg d ^ [

. . k . ]st e ) zhr u m'r oo

. .] . w'dm f ) d'nystm drws[ . ]

. ]c(h')r mrkb byyzyn kwnnd

d§) oo oo cwn nwh (mr) mr'

.k . ]styy pjwr o "(n)k'

] prw m'ndgtr s[ . . jd' 1 ) oo oo

Verso

18 cwn ywspm pkhr prwd 'bg[ . . .]

19 pc'h o c'hyy k' br ny'[ . . . . ]

20 'w cwzg'hyy sm'r oo [oo ]

21 zyyr 'y txt [ . ]rw xw'b[ o]

22 k'pwr brg '[ . . ](w)rd*) kw(n)f

23 [ . . ](m)n n0'r oo oo 'nb(')[

]

24 [ ] . ng jwft mn k(w)[ . ](nd)[ ]

25 [ M ](w)y 'y mnb) ndh[ ]

26 oo oo brgstgf ]

27 'z gwr mn pd drd oo mn (zyyr) 'yg .

28 [ . . ](k)<=) frd ny ks[ ]

29 [ . . . ] d ) 'wrdg pwst (swy) (')[ ]

30 [ M ]wy 'y r'h d'dg m(d)[e) ]

31 u pxrpwstg zr pnh'd[ f ) ]

32 oo oo yk b(")rg) y' d[ ]

33 kwn'nd bs u "nk[ ]

34 swwm k' nbwSm 'z by. h )[ . . . . ]

(a) Or ~\{z)rd. — (b) mn added above the line. — (c) A dot visible above the first
letter of this word. — (d) Perhaps merely punctuation marks. — (e) Or m(r)[. —
(f) Or pnh'r[. NB. not pnh'n.— (g) Or &(>?— (h) Perhaps by(h)[?

102

A LOCUST S LEG

Reconstruction 1

— ^ - w — '"" sirab abdar

darda *siriste[-i] ke furu manad az jawab
*ba Sulfaqar[-i] 2 'aql gusayl sax v an *pa-zar 3
faryad azln zamane *azin *qahr[-i] 4 marduman
faryad azin zamane zamane-i 5 sitizgar 6

— w - u marwarid " —

— ^ — Harun — " - « —

bad-I hunar [cu] 7 pis-i man araS sarab-i *haqq 8

— samum-i -"*'- k.st zahr *i mar 9
har - " — " aswar-am danistam 10 durust

— cahar markab bizin kunan d *f(a)sar 11
cun Nuh 12 mar mara 11 - kastiy-i pa-jaur
anke ~ furu-mande-tar *sanar 13

cun Yusuf-am pa-qahr furud abganan d14 pa-cah

1 Square brackets here enclose words which the scribe left out by mistake.
Words added by me to fill gaps in the manuscript are marked by an asterisk, if
they are not sufficiently supported by evidence. Trifling restorations are left
unmarked.

2 The Idafe-particle, omitted by the transcriber, seems wholly necessary;
the object of gusddan should be sax v an, not 'aql.

3 The obvious restoration; what follows is indeed a "complaint".

4 Idafe-particle again omitted.

5 -e+i as a single long syllable.

The pronunciation with -k- is recent.

7 Such a word may have stood above the line; see text.

8 Or similarly.

9 Ms. zahr u mar, which cannot be right.

10 ddnistam treated as , therefore pronounced ddnisamt Less likely as

*ddns'tam, cf. parastdr once in the Sdhndme as ~~ -, i.e. pars a tdr (ace. to
Noldeke, Nationalepos 3 , 97).

11 On the metrical treatment of kunand see below n. 14. One could,
however, restore kunand *bdr instead.

13 Written like the Persian word for "nine". Manichaean orthography did not
permit h (by origin = Arabic h) at the end of words; it had to be replaced by h
(by origin = Arabic h).

13 s[ . . ]r is best restored as sandr, a rare but well-attested word; sawdr is
less likely.

14 Here, and similarly twice in verse 9, I have restored a 3rd pers. pi. in
preference to a 2nd or 3rd sing., although either of these would fit more com-
fortably into the metre. The sense seems to demand an "impersonal" 3rd pi.,
such as occurs in verses 10 and 13. There is no serious difficulty metrically,
since the use of -and as a simple long syllable (not - «) is well-established, see
Noldeke loc. cit., 102. — abgan- old-fashioned spelling of afigan-.

PERSIAN POETICAL MANUSCRIPTS 103

cah-I ke bar-ney-ayam azfi juz gah-1 1 sumar
9 — ^ zir-i taxt furu x v abanan d *mara

kafur [u] barg-i murd kunand *ruy-i man ni#ar

10 anbaz ~ H -ne juft[-i] 2 man kunand

— " suy-i man ne-dihand — ~

1 1 bargaste ->» — " M az gur[-i] 2 man pa-dard
man zir-i xak fard ne kas « -

12 awarde pus* 3 suy-i *to 4 suy-i rah-dade mard
u pa-xarpuste[-i] zar-nihade 5 *xar 6

13 yak bar ya do bar kunand bas

u anke " — sum ke ne-buSam az bi - 7

Translation

1 .... sated with water and juicy.

2 Piteous [the creature] that is incapable of giving the Answer! 8
[With the help of] the Dhulfaqar of Reason do open your speech
[in plaint]!

3 I cry for help against this age, [against this tyranny of] mankind.
I cry for help against this age, the age of quarrels and strife.

4 .... and pearls .... Aaron ....

5 [Whenever] the wind of Virtue brings before me the wine of
[Truth?],

The simoom of [Passion mingles with it illusion-creating] snake-
poison. 9

1 cwzg'hyy, incomprehensible as it stands, has be"n altered by me into
juz gah-i, which should have been written jwz gh 'y(g), or g'h with the usual
neglect of metrical shortening in spelling. A meaning equivalent to juz (dar)
ruz-i hisdb seems required.

2 Idafe-particle omitted in the MS.

3 pust treated as pus, cf. ddnis'am above verse 6, and Noldeke, loc. cit., 103.

4 A word depending on suy-i and consisting of a single open, short syllable
is required. The restoration of to thus seems unavoidable, in spite of the awk-
wardness of a change in person, at least in form; for in sense to equals man in
the preceding verses (cf. verse 2).

6 MS. zrpnh'd[. The line lacks both sense and metre, and has been emended
drastically; -e-i (-i restored) again taken as a single syllable.

6 Possible; the choice is small.

' If by(h)[, one would have to restore as bihdr = "Buddhist monastery"
(usually read ba- or bu-, but originally bi-). The meaning eludes me.

8 Demanded by the examining angels in the grave.

Emended from "poison and snake(s)".

104

A locust's leg
Ever [since] .... I was a horseman, I came to know for certain

they bridle (?) four horses unsaddled. 1
rThey put] me, Noah-like, into an ark 2 by force —
That (ark) which [is] .... more helplessly cast down [on]

shallows.

They throw me, Joseph-like, into the pit 3 with violence -

That pit whence I shall only rise at the time of (the last) reckon-

ing. . .

[When they] lay [me] to sleep down under the plank .....
They scatter [upon] me camphor and myrtle-leaves.

[No] companion they join with me,

Towards me they do not give ....

[The mourners have] returned from my grave in pain:

I (am) left alone under the soil, no one ... .

12 (They have) turned their backs upon [you?]*, upon the man who
has been sent on his way 5 :

.... over the gilded crest of the tomb [brambles are growing

already]. 6 ,.

13 Once perhaps or twice they will [think of me]-that is all.
And he that an ill omen that I was not from

i Reference (possibly to the manner of carrying the coffin to the burial?)
not clear (on the use of horses in funeral processions in Per SI a, see e.g. H. Masse,
Croyances et Coutumes Persanes, 1, 99-101).

3 Viz. the coffin.

3 Viz. the grave.

t^^X^SZ whom the road has been given", usually -

"allowed to enter, admitted".

The line is not in order; meaning doubtful.

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHRIFTEN DES HANNE

Von WALTHER HINZ

Im Tal von Malamir, in fruhislamischer Zeit und seit 1935 amtlich
wieder Ize genannt, befinden sich beidseits der gleichnamigen
Provinzstadt Felsschluchten mit Denkmalern des Elamerfursten
Hanne aus der Zeit um 710 v. Chr. Die nordostliche Schlucht tragt
den Namen Kul-e Farah; 1 hier ist das Hauptdenkmal ein Relief des
Hanne mit einer 24zeiligen elamischen Inschrift und einigen Bei-
schriften. An der Sudwestseite des Tales befindet sich die Schlucht
Sekaf-e Salman 2 mit mehreren Denkmalern Hannes; das wichtigste
ist seine 36zeilige elamische Inschrift in der Grotte bei der Quelle
dort.

Die erste Beschreibung beider Orte gab A. H. Layard, der
Anfang 1841 Malamir besuchte. 3 Eine erste brauchbare Ausgabe der
Inschriften besorgte 1894 F. H. Weissbach 4 auf Grund der Abklat-
sche Layard's und eines Fotos, das M. Dieulafoy veroffentlicht
hatte. 5 Einen verbesserten Text samt ausgezeichneten Heliograviiren
brachte 1901 V. Scheil; 6 im Anhang dazu gab G. Jequier eine genaue
Beschreibung aller Denkmaler von Malamir. Nach O. Mann (1902)
haben anscheinend nur Sir Aurel Stein (1930) und der Verfasser

1 So die ortliche Aussprache; Sir Aurel Stein {Old Routes of Western Iran,
London, 1940, 130) hat Qul-fara, die Franzosische Mission: Koul-i-Fir'aoun.
Ich vermute ein verballhorntes kul-e ferang = "Franken-Schlucht" (Hanne als
Europaer missverstanden).

2 Ortliche Aussprache: Eskdf-e Salmun; in der Literatur Sikaft-i Salman
(audi Sekdfta-ye Salman).

3 A Description of the Province of Khuzistdn, in: jfRGS 16 [1846], 75-9.

i Neue Beitrage zur Kunde der susischen Inschriften, in: Abh. d.Kgl. Sachs.
Ges.d.Wiss. XXXIV, Phil-hist. Kl. xiv 7, Leipzig, 1894, 731-77.

5 Revue d'Archeologie, III. Sene, Bd.6, Paris, 1885, Planche 24, sowie in
seinem Buche L'Acropole de Suse, Paris, 1893, 33.

Memoires de la Delegation en Perse {MDP) III, Paris, 1901, 102-13; vgl.
auch V. Scheil's Verbesserungen seines Obersetzungsversuch.es in MDP, V
1904, 6.

I os

io6

A LOCUST S LEG

(1958) die Hanne-Denkmaler untersucht. Zwar sind mehrere For-
scher auf einzelne Inschriftstellen eingegangen; doch fehlt bislang
nicht nur eine einigermassen endgiiltige Fassung beider Inschriften,
sondern ausser V. Scheil hat auch noch niemand eine Ubersetzung
gewagt. Sein Versuch ist aber nach dem heutigen Stand der Elamistik
(begreiflicherweise) ganzlich iiberholt.

Im folgenden gebe ich eine Neufassung beider Texte nach dem
epigraphischen Befund, auf Weissbach und Scheil fussend, sowie
einen neuen Versuch einer Gesamtubersetzung. Diese will jedoch nur
als Arbeitsunterlage fur weitere Forschungen gelten, da erst ein
geringer Teil des elamischen Wortschatzes erschlossen, also sehr
vieles noch unsicher ist. Die Anmerkungen sind, um den Rahmen
eines Festschrift-Beitrages nicht zu sprengen, auf das Allernotigste
beschrankt. —

I {Kid-
(1) e d te-ip-ti.u.ri d ti-ru-ti-ir
d ti-ru-tur si-ul.hi-te-ik.ra
si-ul-ha-ak d na-ap-pi-ir-ra
ba-hi-ir su-un-ki-ip.ri
d te-ip-ti (2) ki-te-en 1 . te-um-
be-en.ra
si-is-ni-ir sa-ri
li-in.ri sa-ri
li-in ki-te-en-ni.na

AN'g uk-ku-mi-na ki-te-en
Kite ba-at-mi-na ki-te-en
ki-te-(3)-en sil-ha-pa ki-te-en
lam in-ni a-h hi-ir-pi-qa

ba-at in-ni a-h su-uk-qa-ma-na
su-uk-ki-it in-ni a-h li-ul-ma-

■e Far ah)
O mein gnadiger Herr Tirutir!
(Gott) Tirutir, der starkbewehrte,
der Gestarkte unter den Gottern,
der Schirmer der Konige,
der (magischen Schutz-)Bann 2
verleihende gnadige Herr,
ist ein Verschonernder,
ist ein Gebender.
Die Gabe seines (Schutz-)
Bannes: —

am Himmel oben 3 Bann,
auf Erden unten 3 Bann,
Bann der Starken, einen Bann:
kein Auge (?) hier ward gedul-
det(?),

kein Fuss hier durfte auftreten,
kein Wort(?) hier durfte verlauten—

1 Richtige Lesung {en statt ik) durch G. Hiising, OLZ, 1906, Sp. 60S, nach
Abklatsch von O. Mann.

2 Die von mir erschlossene Bedeutung {Archiv Orientdlni, 1950, 294) passt
auch zu kiten in dem neugefundenen Bruchstuck der Daiva-Inschrift des
Xerxes (Z.31, vgl. G. G. Cameron in: Welt des Orients, 1959, 476).

3 So richtig G. Hiising, OLZ, 1904, Sp. 438.

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHRIFTEN DES HANNE 107

haben die Starken und Guten:

si-ul-ha-h-(4)-ba a-ak ba-ap-

ha-ap-ba

d na-pir si-pa-ak-ir-r[a] a-ak

d si-mut 2 be-ri-ir na-ap-pir-ra

tu-h-is

d hu-ban ri-sa-ir d na-ap-pir-ra

<LUGAL> ki-tin ir.(5).sa-

ra.ir-ra

ki-tin sil-ha-na

u v ha-an-ni DUMU tah-hi-hi

ku-tur n a-a-pfr-ra

a-a-in.u.me-na ri-sa-h-en-ra

an-(6)-h

pu-uk-tu 4 d te-ip-ti d ti-ru-tur.

a-ak d na-pir si-pa-ak-ir-ra.na

d simut.na a-ak d hu-ban

(7) LUGAL ki-tin ir.sa-ra.ir-ra.

u tah-ha-na

ki-tin sil-ha-na

za-al-mu.u.me a-h tah

za-al-mu.ii.me d ti-ru-(8)-tur

si-ul.hi-te-ik.ra

ti-ip-ba sa-al.hu-ba-is

der glanzende (Gott) Napir 1 und
(Gott) Simut, der Herold(?) der
Gotter
empfangen.

Nachdem (Gott) Humban, der
grosste der Gotter,
unter dessen (magischem Schutz-)-
Bann <ein K6nig> steht,
den Bann stark gemacht hatte,
habe ich, Hanne, Sohn des Tah-
hihi,

Fiirst ("Huter") von Aipir (=
Provinz MalamTr/Ize),
meines Hauses Mehrer,
Andacht gehalten(??).
Nachdem der Beistand des gnadi-
gen Herrn Tirutir
und des glanzenden (Gottes)
Napir,

des (Gottes) Simut und des (Got-
tes) Humban,

unter dessen Bann ein Konig
steht,

mir zuteil geworden war,
den Bann stark gemacht hatte,
brachte mein Bildwerk ich hier an.
Mein Bildwerk hat (Gott) Tirutir,
der starkbewehrte,
mit Inschrift verlangt.

1 Vgl. meine Ausfuhrungen in Orientalia, 1950, 411; Napir als Mondgott
ist mir jedoch nicht mehr ganz sicher.

2 So richtig zuerst G. Hiising, OLZ, 1904, Sp. 440. R. T. Hallock hat
scharfsinnig gezeigt (JNES, 1958, 260, Anm. 18), dass das Zeichen man oder
PAP ("alles"), das in unserer Inschrift in den Zeilen 6 und 21 vorkommt, auch
den logographischen Wert simut hat. Simut ist also der Gott der "Gesamtheit",
des "Alls".

io8

a locust's leg

ir-se-lam.u.mi Da meinen Aufstieg(?)

d na-pir si-pa-ak-ir-ra der glanzende (Gott) Napir (und)

d te-ip-(9)-ti hu-ut-tan-ba der gnadige Herr (Tirutir) betrei-

ben,
MU'g sir-mu-in-ni huP-Iak wurde ein reicher Herrscher ge-

brandschatzt(P),
hu-h-su-na 2 durch (ihre) Gunst

ku-lam sir-mu-in-ni pi-ir-rak 3 wurde ein reiches Gebiet(?) unter-

jocht,

mus-x

hul-li-in sir-mu-(10)-in-ni hu- wurde reiche Beute(?) gemacht.

ut-tak

ba-me 4 LUGAL v su-tur dUTU Da ich Treue(?) gegeniiber dem

Konig Sutir-Nahhunte, 5
sa-ak in-da-da.ri.na hu-ut-tan-qa dem Sonne des Indada, betatige,
hu-h-su-na wurde durch (seine) Gunst

PAP'g (11) sir-mu-in-ni a-h be- alles reich hier begriindet.
lam-ik
h hi-lam.u.mi ki-ni-ma-ha Meinen Hofstaat(P) habe ich ver-

wirklicht,
ku-tu-h ich wahrte (ihn).

1 Nach F. Bork bei G. Husing, OLZ, 1904, Sp. 438.

2 MUte hat V. Scheil in einem spaten Omen-Text (Rev. d'Ass., 1917, 31)
als "prince", hu-su-ni-en als "sera favorable" aufgefasst, wahrscheinlich zu
Recht. Zu sir-mu-in-ni vgl. si-ir-ma-an-na in der Inschrift des Atta-Hamiti-
Insusnak (regierte 653-648), Zeile 10 (bei M. Pezard, in: Babyloniaca, 1924, 8),
das "zu bereichern" bedeuten konnte, von sir "schwer" = "reich, machtig".
Fur den Stamm hill- (in hul-lak) wollte G. Husing {OLZ, 1904, Sp. 438) etwa
"verletzen" annehmen; wahrscheinlicher ist "ausplundem".

3 Zu pi-ir-rdk (Lesung nach F. Bork bei G. Husing, OLZ, 1904, Sp. 440)
ist nicht nur pir-ra-at-ni "du mogest unterdrucken!" zu stellen (CIE = Corpus
Inscriptionum Elamicarum, ed. F. W. Konig, Hannover o.J. = 1923, No. 45,
Col. IV, Zeile 18), sondern auch in-ni ir pir-ra-ma-ak in der Darius-Inschrift
DSe, "er wird nicht unterdrilckt" = altpers. naiy vimardatiy. Naheres in
meinem Aufsatz Zu den Persepolis-Tafelchen, ZDMG, 1961, S. 249.

1 Lesung nach M. Pezard (Babyloniaca, 1924, 21, Anm. 4), der allerdings
"ceuvre" iibersetzt.

6 So hiess urspriinglich der spater sich Sutruk-Nahhunte (II.) nennende
Konig, der 717-699 regierte. Sein Vater war ein sonst unbekannter Indada. Die
Behauptung Sutir-Nahhunte's in semen Inschriften, er sei ein sak des Hubani-
mena, bedeutet m.E. lediglich, dass er sich als "Spross" des bekannten Konigs
Humbanumena (regierte um 1270 v. Chr.) ausgab.

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHRIFTEN DES HANNE IOO.

n sil-hi-te u.ma be-ip-(12)-te-na Als (der Ort) Silhite von mir ab-

triinnig geworden war, bin ich,
pu-uk-ti ^te-ip-ti su-ul-ra-ir- nachdem der Beistand des siegver-

ra.na leihenden(P) gnadigen Herrn

a-ak dza-na u da-ri-ra.na und der mir verbiindeten (gott-

lichen) Herrin
u (13) ki-ni-na sich mir verwirklicht hatte,

mi-du-ya aufgebrochen.

20 ku-du-be-be 1 ap-in zap-pa- Zwanzig ihrer Fiihrer, sie habe ich
ha gefangen genommen,

pa-nah.e sa-lam sa-(14)-ri-h ihr Blut(??) zur Siihne (??) ver-

nichtete ich,
pa-kds-ki.e ta-ha-ha ihr pakaski habe ich heimge-

sandt(?),

in Aipir einen Tempel der Narsina,
za-na la-tuk li-pi-(15)-in-ra.na der liebreich(P) sich nahenden

Herrin,
pi-ip-si-h ku-si-h mauerte, baute ich,

a-ak pa-kas-ki hu-h-be und mit jenem pakaski

nu-me i qa-tu 4 -h bekronte(?) ich dies Denkmal(P).

(16) za-al-mu.ii.me hu-ut-tdh a- Mein Bildwerk verfertigte ich,
ak und

ti-ip-be sa-al.hu-ba-h eine Inschrift dazu verlangte ich.

hsil-hi-te 120 sa-h-si-ik-me-me In Silhite 120 Bergziegen 2 (??)
ma-ri-h a-ak pa-nah ergriff ich und (ihr) Blut(??)

n a-a-pir na-(17)-ap.ma ku-si-ha habe ich in Aipir fur die Gott-

heit(?) verbaut(P),
a-h-in ap-in sa-al.hu-ba-h hier habe ich es fur sie verlangt.

ha-a-pir si-ya-an d na-ir-si-na

n A'g pir-ri-in u.ma be-ip-te-na Als (das Gebiet am) Fluss Pirrin

(=/C«n7?z?) von mir abtriinnig ge-
worden war, habe ich,

1 Auf der Bronzetafel-Inschrift aus dem Schatzhaus zu Persepolis, die
E. F. Schmidt veroffentlicht hat (Persepolis II, Chicago, 1957, Tafel 28), findet
sich Rev. Zeile 17 die Wendung: GAM.ku-da-ip GAM.su-un-ki-ip. Da in
dieser Inschrift das Zeichen GAM fur das mannliche Personen-Determinativ
steht, diirften auch die ku-du-be-be unseres Textes Personen gewesen sein
obschon in ihm das Zeichen GAM als Zahlwort 20 verwendet worden zu sein
scheint.

2 "120 Ziegen" mit Fragezeichen auch F. Bork (AfO, 1933-4, 296).

A LOCUST S LEG

i-da pu-uk-tu 4 d te-ip-ti (18)
su-ul-ra-ir-ra.na

d za-na li da-ri-ra.na

a-ak d na-ap-pi n a-a-pir-ip.na

u tah-ha-na

i-(19)-tak a-h-in be-zf-ya

80 sa-h-si-ik-me-me ma-ri-ha

pa-nah n a-a-pfr na-ap.ma ku-

si-ha

a-h-in (20) ap-in sa-al.hu-ba-h

ki-tin d te-ip-ti ki-tin 1 . te-um-
be-en-ra.na

d na-pir si-pa-ak-ir-ra

ba-hir d na-ap-pir-ra.na

(21) d simut be-ri-ir na-ap-pfr-

ra.na

d hu-ban LUGAL ki-tin ir.sa-

ra.ir-ra.na

za-al-mu.ii.me-nu uk-ku.na tak-

za-al-mu.u.me mi-(22)-ul-qa-sa

hi-is.e a-ras 2 pi-it-tin-ra

la-h-l[i]-sa

du-hi 3 .e a-ras hu-ut-tan-ra

sa ku-iz-za-qa d DIL.BAT-(23)-

i-ma hu-ma-ak-ni

nachdem dann der Beistand des

siegverleihenden(P) gnadigen

Herrn,

der mir verbiindeten (gottlichen)

Herrin

und der Gotter von Aipir

mir zuteil geworden war,

dann hier es gefeiert(P).

80 Bergziegen(??) habe ich ergrif-

fen,

(ihr) Blut(??) in Aipir fiir die

Gottheit(?) verbaut(P),

hier habe ich es fiir sie verlangt.

Der (magische Schutz-)Bann des

Bann-gewahrenden gnadigen

Herrn,

des glanzenden (Gottes) Napir,

des Schirmers der Gotter,

des (Gottes) Simut, des Herolds(?)

der Gotter,

des (Gottes) Humban, unter des-

sen Bann ein Konig steht,

sei iiber mein Bildwerk gelegt!

Wer mein Bildwerk verdirbt,

seinen Namen als Besitz einheimst,

es zerhammert,

als sein Eigen sich zum Besitz

macht,

der soil des Heiltums(??) der (Got-

tin) Venus-Stern (=Narsina)

hier beraubt sein,

1 Lesung mit G. Husing (OLZ, 1908, Sp. 338).

2 Zu a-rds vgl jetzt auch R. T. Hallock (JNES, 1960, 96).

3 Von F. Bork (WZKM, 1929, 7) als "Dynastie" gedeutet, aber doch woh]
mit G. G. Cameron (JCS, 1960, 62-3), der hierin mit Erica Reiner uberein-
stimmt, als "self" oder "Eigen" aufzufassen, da DB I 33 hal-pi r du 1 -hi.e.ma
hal-pi-ik altpersisches (h)uvdmrsiyus amriyatd und akkadisches mitutu ramannisu
mlti = "er starb durch sein eigenes Sterben" wiedergibt.

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHRIFTEN DES HANNE

(aus ihrer) Huld(?) getilgt,

verstossen(P),

der soil verdorben sein!

Als auf der Erde Verlorener

soil er unter der Sonne nicht mehr

wandeln! 1

Seine drei Freuden(??) soil er
ni-en nicht mehr geniessen(??)!

ki-tin sil-ha-h d na-ap-pi-ip-ba.na Den starken Bann der Gotter habe
za-al-mu-me-nu uk-ku.na tah 2 auf mein Bildwerk ich gelegt.

te-na su-ku-uk-na

hu-su-uk

sa mi-hiil-lak-ni

Kite ru.uk-ku.ra pi-tu 4 -uk-qa

d UTU ir.sa-ra.(24).ra a-nu iz-

zu-un

tan-na-am-me 3.e a-nu si-mi-

1(a): Beischrift auf dem Relief der Gestalt Hannes:
(1) u vh a -an-(2)-ni DUMU tah-hi-(3)-hi ku-tur ha-(4)-a-pir-ir-ra
(5) za-al-mu.u.(6).me d ti-ru-(7)-tur si-ul.(8).hi-te-ik.ra (9) ti-ip-ba
ki-(10)-tin sil-ha-na a-(ll)-h sa-al.hu-(12)-ba-h
"Ich (bin) Hanne, Sohn des Tahhihi, Fiirst von Aipir. Mein Bildwerk
habe ich, nachdem (Gott) Tirutir, der starkbewehrte, (fiir es samt)
Inschrift den (magischen Schutz-)Bann stark gemacht hatte, hier
verlangt."

1(b): Beischrift zu der oberen Figur hatter Hanne:
u v su-[ut]-ru-r[u] [r]a-g[i]-[ba]l 3 v ha-an-ni = "Ich (bin) Sutruru,
Hannes Minister".

1(c): Beischrift zu der unteren Figur hinter Hanne:
li v su-ut-ru-ru-ra(?) zi-ik-ki-ir v ha-an-ni = "Ich (bin) Sutrurura(P),
Hannes Mundschenk". 4

1(f): Beischrift zu dem Priester iiber den drei
Bergziegen-Kopfen :
d te-ip-ti hu-ban mu-h-hu-du-ul-li.ra = "Tempti-Humban, der
Opfer-Darbringer".
Die iibrigen Beischriften sind teils unergiebig, teils undurchsichtig.

II (Sekdf-e Salman)
(1) u v ha-an-ni DUMU tah-hi-hi Ich (bin) Hanne, Sohn des Tah-
hihi,

1 Zur Obersetzung vgl. Archiv Oriental™, 1950, 293 und ZA, 1952, 242ff.

2 So richtig G. Husing (OLZ, 1908, Sp. 338).

3 Wohl verballhornt aus akkad. rab ekalli "Palastaufseher", vgl. Arch. Or.,
1950, 287, Anm. 13.

4 Gllicklicher Fingerzeig von I. Gershevitch {Asia Major, 1951, 135/6):
pn-hu zik~qa-[ap] = "boys, (wine-)pourers".

112

A LOCUST S LEG

ku-tur ha-a-pir-ra NIM.ma
ku-turhza(2)-ip-pu-la-h-si-mi.ma
ku-du h a-a-pi'r.na ku-tu-h

v ur?-ra?-as-ti.na-h-tu?-(3)-uk.ra

nu-h-hu

v za-al-mi.u.mi-ni a-ak f hu-h-in

ru-tu su-tu (4) ha-ni-ik.u.ri.na

pu-hu.mi-na u-h-um.ma
h tar-ri-sa

d bar-ti za-na n tar-(5)-ri-sa.ra
si. ma ki-te-nu-h
za-al-mu-me te-ip-ba tak ki-te-
nu-h

(6) in-ni be-ra-an-man-qa
sa-ra tak ki-te-nu-h

ir mur da-ak-ki-me.u.me

a-(7)-ak fhu-h-in

ru-tu su-tu ha-ni-ik.u.ri.na

v pu-hu.mi-na

d bar-ti za-na h(8)tar-ri-sa.ra ik-ki

ha-h-pu-hu

e d bar-ti na-pir.ii.ri

ku-ul-lak.u.me ha-(9)-pu-it-ni

tu 4 -ru-uk.u.me hu-ud-da-at-ni

nu-ku-na kut-tin.ni
ba-at in-ni .... (2 Zeichen)
(10) nu-ku-na kut-tin-ti
be-ti-in-ni-na 3 pu-uk-ti.ni
u tah-ha-ak-ni

Ftirst von Aipir in Elam,

Fiirst in Zappulahsimi(?).

Die "Herde"(?) von Aipir hiitete

ich.

Den

ten wir.

Mein Bildwerk und das der Hu-

hin,

meiner geliebten Gattin-Schwe-

ster, 1 (und)

meines Kindes habe ich fur uns(?)

in Tarrisa (= Sekaf-e Salman)

vor der (Gottin) Parti, der Herrin

von Tarrisa, (magisch) gebannt.

Mein oben [an der Felswand]

angebrachtes Bildwerk bannte ich;

ohne es gelesen zu haben,

bannte ich das unten [in der

Grotte] angebrachte. 2

Urn meines Lebens

und des der Huhin,

meiner geliebten Gattin-Schwe-

ster,

(und) meines Kindes willen haben

wir

hin auf Parti, die Herrin von

Tarrisa, gehorcht.

O Parti, meine Gottin,

mogest du mein Flehen erhoren!

Mogest du das von mir Gesagte

tun!

Uns dein (Schutz-) Bann

zu Fiissen(?) nicht

Uns gib du (Schutz-) Bann!
Betreffs des Feindes moge dein
Beistand mir zuteil werden!

1 VgLAreh. Or., 1950, 292.

2 Ebenda S. 286.

8 Richtige Lesung und Deutung durch M. P<5zard (Babyloniaca, 1924, 20).

TAQIZADEH VOL.

PLATE VI

:3^r?r :"■

-& " 'J-'" v''.

' •".'.- -JZ '''•' *•

' ;•"' -< r ~

.. . .'• ; -

*«,

Relief des Elamerfursten Hanne (urn 710 v. Chr.) in d

.chlucht Kul-e Farah zu Malamir/Ize (1.70 X 1.06m). (Aufn. Hinz.)

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHRIFTEN DES HANNE

113

da-ri-in-ni-(ll)-naki-ni-ik-me Betreffs des Verbundeten moge

das Walten
dbar-ti am-ma ba-ha dna-ap-pir- der Parti, der guten Gottermutter,

ra.na

ku-un-tu-um da-(12)-ak-ni

zum Heile ausschlagen!

v su-ut-ru-ru ra-gi-bal.u.ri

gi-li-ir-ra

za-al-mu-me (13) tuk-kan-ra

h KUR hbe-e-si 1 ik-qa-ha

ud-du-KI.MIN 2 dbar-ti.na uk-

ku.mi -^__^y

tah a-(14)-ak za-al-mi.e

hu-h-da-ha

du-tuk.ma si-ik-qa.tah

v [su-ut-(15)-ru]-ru ku-ku-da

ru-lam 3 pa-mukte du-ma?-x-

ud.ma

d bar-ti n tar-ri-(16)-sa

si-ni-en-ra mur-tin-ra

[a-ha]-ir mur-da-na

mu-h-tu ku-(17)-ul-li
hu-h-be hu-ut-tak-ni
[x-y-z mu]-h-tu ku-ul-li

Da Sutruru, mein Minister,

der Befehlshaber,

mein Bildwerk wiinschte, habe ich

es hier beim Pecz- Gebirge

iiber dem Bauwerk der (Gottin)

Parti

angebracht, und sein Bildwerk

habe ich auch anfertigen lassen,

am Felsen(?) richtete ich es auf.

[Sutrujru

zur Kapelle(??)

(Gottin) Parti nach Tarrisa

kommend (und dort) Wohnsitz

nehmend.

Nachdem sie dort Wohnsitz ge-

nommen,

flehte ich opfernd,

jenes mochte getan werden;

opfernd flehte ich —

iDas P&i-Gebirge, also wohl die— von Westen her gesehen— zweite
Kette des Bachtiaren-Gebirges, das die Ebene der Susiana im Osten abschliesst,
wird auch auf der Louvre-Stele des Atta-Hamiti-Insusnak in Zeile 11 erwahnt
(vgl. M. Pezard in: Babyloniaca, 1924, 8-9).

2 Das Zeichen KI.MIN "ditto" hat F. Bork gefunden (WZKM, 1929, 7).
ud-du-KI.MW = uttu.uttu bedeutet "Werk, Arbeit, Bau"; vgl. auch R. T.
Hallock, jfNES, 1950, 244. Entsprechend ist jetzt die Darius-Bauinschnft aus
Susa (DSf, mesne Veroffentlichung in jfNES, 1950, 2) in Z.21 wie folgt zu
verbessern: [ld-da-ni-qa]-ma.mar hu-ut-KIMlN.-ak.na sd-ra.ma ''mu-ru-un
mds-zik ku-U [b]e-la-qa = "(sein Material wurde geholt) von [weit^her. Von
des Baues Untergrund wurde Erde ausgeschachtet, bis man aufsass".

3 ru-lam kommt zweimal vor in der Inschrift des Atta-Hamiti-Insusnak
(Zeilen 17 und 19) in dem Zusammenhang: " . . . . zu dem rulam zog ich
(sa-h)", vgl. M. Pezard in Babyloniaca, 1924, 24; es ist wohl identisch mit n-lam
(CIE No. 38, Z.31): i ri-lam sa-at-na = "du mogest (namlich Gott Insusnak) in
dieses rilam (ein)ziehen!"

ii 4

a locust's leg

hu-ud-da-qa

(18) tar-ma-na d na-pir mur-tak-

a-ak [ v ti]-pi-ra

ku-ul-lak-na

za-al-mu (19) pak-ni

V LAM V TI d na-pir sa-ra.ma da-

ak-ni 1

a-ak ma?-ri-ip-ba v su-am-(20)-

mi-ip

ku-tur n a-a-pir.ir-ra du-is-ni

V LAM V TI za-al-mu-me a-h

(21) ba-ak-ni
MARte f am-ma-zi-ras

n a-a-pir.ir-ra du-is-ni

TIte a-x-(22)-tan tuk-is du-is-ni

LAM'g v ra-gi-bal gi-li-ra du-is-
ni
LAM'S (23) ti-pi-ra 2 ak-qa

za-al-mu be-ra-man.ra du-is-ni

SAGte sa-li-ha

sa 3 HAL(24)lg a-h is-ha

Plte vgi_i n .g^-tin-be ta-is-ni

vra-ba-as NIM? i is-ti.u?-(25)-mi
ITTjlg v za . am . m i_ip ta-is-ni

(und) es ist getan worden!

Bestandig moge die Gottheit

Wohnsitz behalten

und von einem [Schrift]kundigen

angefleht werden!

Mein Bildwerk werde behiitet!

Segen(?) und Fiirbitte(?) mogen

unter die Gottheit gelegt werden!

Und die Gefangenen(P), die ... .

moge der Fiirst von Aipir erhal-

ten!

Durch Segen(?) und Furbitte(?)

moge mein Bildwerk hier

beschirmt werden!

Das moge (Frau) Amma-

ziras

von Aipir erhalten!

Durch Fiirbitte(?) moge

nach Wunsch erhalten!

Den Segen(?) moge der Minister

(und) Befehlshaber erhalten!

Den Segen(?) moge ein Schrift-

kundiger,

der mein Bildwerk liest, erhalten!

Kopfe habe ich aufgespiesst,

Schamglieder(P) fiir das Land hier

habe ich aufgereiht(??),

Ohren(?) sollen die Mondpriester

(?) darbringen!

Der .... dies Elam? mein

im Monat .... mogen die ...
darbringen!

1 Die Wendung TI's A na-pir sd-ra.ma da-ak-na findet sich auch in Z.12
Rev. der spatelamischen Bronzetafel-Inschrift aus Persepolis (a.a.O. Tafel 28;
vgl. dazu G. G. Cameron, ebenda S. 64/65).

2 G. Hiising (Beitrdge zur Assyriologie 5 [1906], 405): "Der Schrift-
gelehrte, welcher die Stele liest".

3 Vgl. meine Ausfuhrungen in Arch. Or., 1950, 295.

DIE ELAMISCHEN INSCHEIFTEN DES HANNE

si-lam H'g 1 da-li-ip-be gi?-li?-
-(26)-ip hu-ma-ma-am-ba ta-is

v tuk-ru-ku? ru-lam pa-muk

as.ku-tur lg(27)GUD.UD.ma
d bar-ti ha-ti hu-ri-en-ra 2

h a-a-pir di- me dTjTU

mu-h-tu ku-ul-li-(28)-h

hu-ut-tak-ni

a-ak ak-qa-be gal-li a-pi.e

a-h da-ha ta-is-ni

i-ni-is (29) i-tak ku-is

Ungeziefer(P)

•ni nachdem sie an sich genommen
haben, sollen sie darbringen!
Der Kapelle(?)

v ti-pi-ra ku-ul-la-ma
za-al-mu be-ra-an
ud-du-KI.MIN du-(30)-ha-tan
tuk-is su-da-as-ni
dbar-ti na-pir.ii.ri
hu-ud-da-ha galF-lite
d te-[ip-ti d]SIN [da-](31)-ak-ni

v nah-ha-an-ti-ni te-na

li tu 4 -ru-uk-ni

ak-qa za-al-mu. me mi-ul-qa-

man-ra

hi-[is](32).u.mi pi-ip-tu 4 -sa

hi-is du-hi.e a-ras pi-it-te-ma-

an-ra

Viehhiiter fiir Rinder (?)

det (Gottin) Parti innig ergeben

geho>eheTKl(?).

In Aipir (Gott)

Nahhunte

opfernd flehte ich an,
es mochte getan werden!
Und die, welche ihren Lohn,
den ich hier hingelegt habe, dar-
bringen mogen,

Nach-

kommenschaft.

Ein Schriftkundiger, der im Gebet

mein Bildwerk liest,

das Bauwerk lobt(?),

moge einen Wunsch erbitten!

O Parti, meine Gottin!

Was ich geleistet, der Lohn davon

moge dem gna[digen Herrn]

Mondgott [darge]bracht sein!

Als einem Sonnengott-Anbeter

(?) moge Huldreiches(?)

mir gesagt werden!

Wer mein Bildwerk verdirbt,

meinen Namen entfernt,

seinen eigenen Namen als Besitz

einheimst,

1 Hte kommt auch in dem von V. Scheil veroffentlichten Omentext
{Rev.d'Ass., 1917, 52) vor, wohl in der Bedeutung "insectes malfaisants".

2 Richtige Lesung durch M. Rutten (Mem. Mission Arch, en Iran XXXII,
Paris, 1953, 69).

A LOCUST S LEG

ud-du-KI.MIN ap-pa a-h da-ha das Bauwerk, das ich hier errichtet,

(33) la-ha-ma-an-ra 1 betritt,

ik-be ra-gi-bal.me-na die Spenden(?) des Ministers

du-sa an sich nimmt,

i mu-ma-ra-te x-ba-an-ra diese seine Weihgaben(?) entwen-

det(?),
HA (34) d GAL.na der werde vom Fluch des (Gottes)

Humban,
d ki-ri-is-sa.na d te-ip-ti der (Gottin) Kirissa, des gnadigen

Herrn (des Gottes Tirutir),
A'e KI's 2 ku-tu-is-da.na der Wasser und Erde geschaffen

hat,
sa-h-[da-ni]-qa? (35) da-ak-ni bis in die Feme getroffen! 3

Sa ki-iz-za-qa d bar-ti.na Dem soil das Heiltum(?) der Parti

i-ma hu-ma-ak-ni hier entzogen werden!

sa.e d SIN a-ak d (36)UTU 4 sa- Sein Glied(?) werde unter Mond
ra.ma und Sonne

mas-si-ik-ni ku-is [a-nu ku-tu- abgeschnitten! Nachkommen-
un] schaft [soil er nicht zustandebrin-

gen!]

11(c): Beischrifte?i
auf dem Relief oben links in der Felsschlucht von Sekaf-e Salman;
links Hanne, rechts eine Frau, dazwischen ein Kind (vgl. Tafel 25
und 32a in MDP III, Paris, 1901).

Beischrift des Kindes: za-se-h-si? (nach V. Scheil) v ha-an-ni

pa-ak-ri = "Zasehsi(?), Hannes Tochter".

Beischrift der Frau: f am-ma-te-na v ha-an-ni ru-tii-ri = "Am-

matena, Hannes Gattin".

1 Dass der Stamm la-ha- nicht nur "sterben" bedeuten kann, geht z.B.
auch aus der Inschrift des Atta-Hamiti-Insusnak hervor (Z.7, vgl. M. Pezard in
BabyL, 1924, 8), wo Gott Insusnak als te-ip-ti ku-uk-in-nu-um la-ha-ak.ra
bezeichnet ist, was doch nur bedeuten durfte: "der in den Hochtempel eingegan-
gene gnadige Herr".

2 Richtige Lesung durch M. Rutten (a.a.O. S. 66).

3 Vgl. auch ZA, 1952, 243-5.

4 So lese ich jetzt — entgegen Arch. Or., 1950, 295, wo ich auf G. Hiising,
OLZ, 1904, Sp. 440 fusste, und auch entgegen M. Pezard, BabyL, 1924, 17
Anm. 2; Pezard hat allerdings V. Scheil's Versehen richtiggestellt ("il y a Sin,
non Nahunte").

A MEDIEVAL INTERPOLATION SCHEME
USING SECOND ORDER DIFFERENCES

By E. S. KENNEDY

Introduction

The power and elegance of computational algorisms developed by
Islamic mathematicians of the ninth through the fifteenth centuries
has only recently come to be appreciated, largely through the work of
the late Paul Luckey. The most successful of these computers was the
Iranian scientist, Jamshid Ghiyath al-Dln al-Kashl (d.1429), who
worked at the Samarqand observatory of Sultan Ulugh Beg.

We present here a method described by Kashi for solving a
problem which arose in the computation of planetary ephemerides.
What is desired is a table giving the true longitude of a planet on
successive days. A full computation for each day would be laborious,
and for the slower objects he suggests computing longitudes at
intervals of, say, ten days only. Positions for the intervening days are
then to be approximated by some relatively simple interpolation
device. When the planet's motion exhibits considerable angular
acceleration Kashi prescribes a method he calls by an Arabic title
qaws al-i.khtildf, the "difference arc". There is no indication as to
whether it is his own invention or was already well-known in his time.

Put in modern terms, if the longitude function is plotted against
time, it amounts to passing a parabola through the three points
determined by the planet's already computed longitude on (1) the day
the interval commences, (2) the preceding day, and (3) the day the
interval ends. It approximates to the method of passing a smooth
curve through a set of points whose abscissas are equally spaced, by
piecing together a succession of parabolic arcs through the points,
each arc tangent to the preceding one.

The Source

The method is described in a passage on folio 81r of the India Office

117

a locust's leg

Persian MS 430 (Ethe 2232), one of two extant complete copies of
Kashl's astronomical handbook, the Zij-i Khaqanl.

Translation

In the passage translated below numbers in parentheses indicate the
beginnings of lines in the Persian text. The Persian- Arabic word buht
means longitudinal speed, here in degrees per day. It is from the
Sanskrit bhukti.

(Line 6) . . . That ten days, (7) or whatever it is which occurs between
the two longitude (computations), we have called the increment. So
we divide the motion of the planet in each increment by the number
of that (8) increment, so that the daily buht results, and that we call
the mean buht. With that buht we advance the true longitude of the
(9) planet in that time, so that the true longitude for each day results.
But if the mean buht (10) of one increment is much different from the
mean buht of another increment, one must operate with the difference
arc. (11) That is thus: that we add one to the number of the increment,
and we take half of that amount, and that (12) we call the preserved
(number). And we obtain the difference between the preceding buht,
i.e. the buht of the last day of the past increment and the mean buht,
(13) and we divide it by the preserved (amount). The quotient we call
the equation of the buht, and if the number of the increment is even
we divide (14) the double of the difference by the double of the
preserved (amount) so that it will be easier. Then, if the (new) mean
buht is more than (15) the preceding (day's) buht, we add the equation
of the buht to the previous buht, and (this is continued) one time after
another; otherwise we subtract it (16) one time after another, so that
the distance and the increments of the successive buhts differing by
that amount result, and the measure of (17) the correctness of this
operation is this, that the sum of the buht of the first day of the incre-
ment and of the last day of the increment should be equal to the
double of the (18) mean buht. Also, if the number of the period is an
odd integer, the buht of the middle day should be the mean buht (19)
exactly. Then, if the planet is in forward motion, we proceed with the
days of the increment with those buhts in such fashion that we add
every (20) buht to the true longitude of the preceding day, so that the
longitude(s) for the day(s), one after another, result. But if the (21)
planet is in retrograde motion we subtract each buht from the true

A MEDIEVAL INTERPOLATION SCHEME

119

longitude of the previous day that the (longitudes of the) succeeding
days will result.

Commentary

Let the number of days in the increment be p, and let the true longi-
tude at, say, noon of the initial day be A , that of the following noon A x ,
and so on. The method assumes that X- x , the longitude for the pre-
ceding day, as well as A and Xp, have already been determined. Values
are sought for A 1( A 2 , A 3 , . . . , Aj,^. We adopt the customary notation,
A\i =A„_|_ 1 — X„.

The mean buht (line 12) is

AX-

Aj>— A

The text next prescribes that if successive values of AX differ
markedly, the "difference arc" interpolation scheme is to be applied;
otherwise the daily longitudes are inserted linearly between the already
computed endpoints.

In the former case, form the "preserved (number)", (line 11),

p + 1

and then the "equation of the buht"

AX-AX- t
e =

In the event that p is even, q will be a fraction. To avoid this,
both the denomination and numerator of e are in this case to be
doubled.

Now form the A's by employing e as a constant second difference

A% t = AX n+1 -AX n = e, n = -1, 0, 1, 2, . . . ,p-2.

This is equivalent to Kashl's statement (line 15) that to obtain
the buht of each day add the equation of the buht to the buht of the
preceding day. We note that since the second order differences are
constant the A's resulting from the scheme must be along a parabola
having its axis vertical.

Summing between the limits of n = — 1 and n = m we obtain

AX m —AX-

(m + l)e, or AX m = AX- X + [m + \)e.

120

A locust's LEG

Summation of the second expression above from m = to

m = k — 1 gives

, k(k+l)

X h -X ~kAX- t + -^~-±e,

or successive daily positions of the planet are given by
(1)

k(k+l)
X k = A + kAX- t + y T e,

which depends only on X- v A , and e.

On the right-hand side of this expression put k = p and substi-
tute for e its defined value. We obtain

A + pAX- x
A + pAX-j.

p(p + l) AX—AX-!

p(p+l)

X.+pAX^+p

2 p+1

'Ap-Ao

(JA-JA-i) =

JA-J = A

P >

which shows that the parabola passes through the point computed
beforehand for the last day of the increment.

Kashi's lack of negative numbers obliges him to give special
explanations for cases of negative acceleration (line 15) and negative
displacement (line 21).

Put into modern symbols, his numerical check (line 17) asserts that

AX +AX p ^ = 2AX.
The left-hand side becomes, by use of expression (1) above,

Ao-A-j + e + Ao-A-j +pe = 2AX-! + (p+1) . — (AX-AX-J,

which is equal to the right-hand side.

When p is odd the middle day will be (p-l)/2. Then line 18
asserts that

A \p-i)l2 = AX.

Again using expression (1) the left-hand side becomes

which reduces to the right-hand side.

THE MERCHANT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

By A. K. S. LAMBTON

Trade was already important in the Middle East in pre-Islamic times
and urban life highly developed. The growth of towns continued
under the Muslims, conditions in the medieval Middle East offering a
striking contrast in this respect to conditions in medieval Europe. 1
The importance of the merchant in the life of the early Islamic
community, however, was to some extent obscured by the fact that
tribal tradition played a dominant part in laying down social ideals
and tribal lineage gave social status and because, in the eastern
provinces, the Zoroastrian religion held the merchant in contempt.
On the other hand the anti-ascetic attitude of Islam contributed to
the growth of the merchant community and helped to raise the status
of the merchant. Man's salvation was, broadly speaking, to be en-
sured, not by withdrawal from the world, though there arose, in fact,
a strong tendency towards such withdrawal, but by integrity and
moderation in the conduct of the affairs of this world. In the course of
time an elaborate law in respect of trade based chiefly on hadith,
spurious and otherwise, was evolved. The Quranic prohibition on
usury was in the main circumvented by devices (hiyaT); and money-
lending flourished at high rates of interest. A profit in money-changing
(sarf) was similarly made possible. 2 But the 'idamd, because of the
Quranic prohibition on usury, condemned the activities of money-
changers and for the most part money-changing was in the hands of
the Jewish community. Jews, Christians, and, to a lesser extent,
Zoroastrians also played a disproportionately large part in the field of
large-scale trade since this involved dealing in credit, which was
difficult without usury. Nevertheless trade was regarded as honourable

1 The important role played by towns in Islamic civilization has long since
been pointed out. See C. Cahen, Zur Geschichte der stadtischen Gesellschaft
im islamischen Orient des Mittelalters in Saeculum, Bd. ix, Ht. 1.

2 See article on Riba' in Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leyden, 1913—).

122

A LOCUST S LEG

and the honourable merchant as worthy of esteem. 1 Moreover,
when in the course of time Islamic government began to diverge
increasingly from the ideal and the pious shrank from government
service so the respect in which the merchant was held tended to
increase.

Jahiz in an essay in praise of trade and censure of the service of
sultans ('amal as-sultdn) maintains that merchants were held in high
estimation and that people of discrimination considered them to be
the most pious members of the community and their life to be the
most secure; they were in their houses like kings on their thrones, the
people seeking them out to satisfy their needs. Merchants, he points
out, were not bound to humble themselves as were those who under-
took the service of sultans; and they were not under obligations as
were the servants of sultans, who went in fear and humiliation and
were forced to stoop to flattery. 2 He recalls that the Prophet Muham-
mad had been a merchant for part of his life and alleges that trade had
been the occupation of the forefathers of the Muslims. 3 He then
refutes the allegation that trade detracted from learning and maintains
that merchants had excelled in all branches of learning. 4

Two theories of trade became current in the medieval Muslim
world, one praising wealth for its own sake and deriving from Hellenic
sources and the other deriving from, or adapted to, Islam, based on
the assumption that this world was a preparation for the next and that
man should so conduct himself in this world as to ensure his salvation
in the next. One of the fullest expositions of the former is to be found
in the Kitdb al-Ishdra ild Mahdsin at-Tijdra of Abii'l Fadl Ja'far b.
'Ali ad-Dimishqi, who lived some time between 250/864-5 and
570/1174-5. Chapter I of this work, which is a practical manual for
merchants, concerns the essence of wealth (ft haqiqat al-mdV); it is
followed by chapters on the excellencies of wealth and the need for
money; the way to test gold; various commodities and their prices;
ways of distinguishing bad merchandise from good; crafts and
industries; advice to merchants; the excellence of trade; the duties of
the three classes of merchants (travelling merchants, wholesalers, and
exporting merchants); warnings against tricksters; the administration

1 See article on Tidjdra in Encyclopaedia of Islam.

2 Majmu'at Rasd'il (Egypt, n.d.), p. 156.

3 Ibid., pp. 156-7.
"Ibid., p. 157.

THE MERCHANT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

123

of wealth; and the need to protect wealth, which urges the reader not
to lay out more than, or as much as, he made, not to undertake
something which he could not accomplish, not to lay out his money
on something which gave slow returns, and to beware of greed, mean-
ness, waste, "moneyed show", and bad or careless administration; and
lastly a chapter illustrated by quotations from belles lettres containing
exhortations not to squander wealth but to use it rightly. 1

Ritter points out that the economic part of ad-Dimishqi's work
is influenced by Plato's Politics and neo-pythagorean sources, in
particular Bryson; 2 and in the chapter on prices, which stresses the
golden mean, he sees the influence of Aristotelian theory. 3 The last
two chapters put forward a practical mercantile wisdom, honourable
but in the last resort egotistical. In ad-Dimishqf s picture of the ideal
merchant, however, the influence of the religious ethic can to some
extent be seen. 4

The ethical theory of trade, which offers a contrast to the theory
just considered is set forth in the Ihya' ' TJlum ad-Bin and the Kimiya
as-Sa'ddat of Ghazali 5 and the Mirsdd al-'Ibdd min al-Mabda' ila'l
Ma'dd of Najm ad-Din Razi. Ghazali writes

"Know that since the world is a stage on the road to the next
world and man has need of food and clothing, which can only be
acquired by trade (kasb), he must know what is proper to the conduct
of trade, because whoever gives himself wholly to the trade of this
world will be unfortunate, whereas he who gives himself wholly to the
next world and relies upon God is blessed. However, the happy mean
is that he should concern himself both with his livelihood in this
world and his life in the next world; [but in this] his object must be

1 H. Ritter, Ein arabisches Handbuch der Handelswissenschaft in Der Islam,
Bd. vii, Ht.l, pp. 3-4.

2 Ibid., pp. 8ff. See also M. Plessner, Der Oikonomikos des Neupythagoreers
"Bryson" mid sein Einfluss auf die islamische Wissenschaft (Heidelberg, 1928).

3 Ibid., p. 14.

4 The theory underlying Kay Ka'us' advice to his son, should the latter
follow the career of a merchant, approximates to the theory -which praises wealth
for its own sake rather than to the ethical theory. The chapter on being a
merchant, like much of the rest of the Qdbus Ndma, is an odd mixture of ex-
pediency, egoism, and Islamic ethics (ed. R. Levy, Gibb Memorial Series, 1951,
pp. 95-100).

6 The account in the Kimiya as-Sa'ddat is considerably shorter than that in
the Ihya' 'Uhlm ad-Din. There are minor differences between the two accounts.
For a brief summary of the latter see the article on Tidjdra in the Encyclopaedia
of Islam; and also H. Ritter, op. cit., pp. 31ff.

124

A LOCUST S LEG

the next life, the attention which he gives to the acquisition of his
livelihood being merely to the end that he should be free to care for
the next life." 1

Five chapters follow on (i) the excellency and Tightness of trade,
(ii) the conditions which must be fulfilled if transactions are to be
valid, (iii) the need for equity in transactions, (iv) the righteousness
which lies beyond equity, and (v) the need for the exercise in transac-
tions of the compassion demanded by religion. It is clear that Ghazali
has in mind primarily, or indeed wholly, the small merchant and not
the large-scale trader. He does not specifically rule out the latter, but
lays down certain conditions which make large-scale trading difficult.
He was concerned with the earning of a livelihood through trade and
not with the activities of buying and selling per se.

Discussing the excellency of trade Ghazali states "Know that to
provide for one's family so that they may not need anything from the
community and to provide for them by lawful trade (kasb) is [to be
reckoned as] a form of jihad". This is, incidentally, an interesting
example of the transfer of jihad from the sphere of actual warfare to
everyday life. "And," continues Ghazali, "it (trade) is more excellent
than many acts of worship [as the following incident shows]. One day
the Prophet, upon whom and whose family be peace, was sitting
down. A robust young man passed by in the early morning on his
way to a shop in the bazaar. The Companions of the Prophet said
'What a pity he has not got up in the early morning to worship God!'
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said, 'Do not speak thus. If he is
going in order to provide for his needs so that he may not need any-
thing from the community, or similarly to provide for the needs of his
father and mother or wife and children, he is worshipping God, but
if he is going for the purpose of self-indulgence, self-glorification, or
riches, then he is worshipping the devil'." 2 After relating more
Traditions and anecdotes Ghazali concludes that only for him who
had sufficient to provide for the sustenance of himself and his family
was prayer better than trade, and the only trade which had no ex-
cellence was that trade which was designed to provide more than a
sufficiency for him who practised it. Such trade was, indeed, harmful
since it involved a fixing of one's heart on this world, which was the

1 Kimiya as-Sa'ddat (lith.

2 Ibid., p. 132.

Bombay), p. 132.

THE MERCHANT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

I2 5

greatest of all sins. Trade for the ordinary man was desirable, but it
was better that the man who had no wealth but whose sustenance was
provided for from the proceeds of awqdf should not trade. It was also
better that the following should not indulge in trade: those who were
engaged in the pursuit of a branch of knowledge from which the
people would derive religious benefit, such as the religious sciences, or
worldly benefit, such as medicine; those holding the office of qddi or
engaged in the administration of awqdf and matters concerning the
public interest; those with an inclination towards the Sufi "states";
and those engaged in prayer in a hospice. 1

The second chapter concerns those conditions which must be
fulfilled for transactions to be valid in the light of the shari'a, and is
devoted to those minutiae which may, to the non-Muslim, seem un-
real, but which were of vital importance to the Muslim merchant in
order to enable him to carry on mercantile operations without
transgressing the letter of the law and violating the dictates of his
conscience. 2 In the third chapter Ghazali states that any transaction
involving usury or inflicting loss upon Muslims was cursed by God.
He specifically mentions hoarding and cornering. No deceit in the
description of goods was to be indulged in and a fair price only was
to be asked. 3 He lays down in Chapter Four that undue profit was not
to be sought; the goods of the poor, such as the thread spun by
widows or fruit sold by children and the poor was to be bought at a
higher price than would be normally given in order to make their sellers
happy. Kindness was to be shown when exacting payment by reducing
the price, accepting broken or chipped coins (?), and in according
time for payment; and by the prompt repayment of loans. In cases
where a transaction had been concluded and the other party regretted
it, it was praiseworthy, though not obligatory, to cancel the transac-
tion. Further, if something was sold to a poor man on credit, payment
for it should not be demanded until he had the wherewithal to pay
for it. 4

In Chapter Five Ghazali states that whosoever occupied himself
with the commerce of this world to the exclusion of the next would be
miserable. He lays down seven precautions to be observed by whoever

1 Ibid., p. 133.

2 Ibid., pp. 133ff.

3 Ibid., pp. 141ff.

4 Ibid., pp. 145-6.

126

A LOCUST S LEG

engaged in trade, (i) Every morning he should renew his resolve to go
to the bazaar merely to obtain sustenance for himself and his family
and having done that to devote himself to the worship of God; to
treat the people with compassion; and to carry out the duty of all
Muslims, namely to exhort men to righteousness and forbid them
from evil, (ii) He should realise that life was only made possible by a
division of labour and co-operation and he should therefore go to the
bazaar in the resolve that the life of the Muslims should be made easy
by his efforts and resolved to undertake some necessary occupation
and not one that was merely a luxury such as that of a goldsmith,
painter, or plasterer. Ghazali then mentions certain trades which were
forbidden and others which were undesirable. Among the latter he
numbers money-changing, which, he alleges, was difficult to under-
take without usury, (iii) Whoever earned his living in the bazaar
should resolve that the commerce of this world should not keep him
from caring for the next world and attendance at the mosque; (iv) that
he would practise the remembrance of God while in the bazaar; and (v)
that he would not be unduly eager to make a profit in his transactions
in the bazaar or undertake long and dangerous journeys, because to
undertake such was "the extremity of greed". 1 (vi) Whoever went to
the bazaar to earn his living should resolve to avoid any transactions of
a doubtful nature. In the case of a transaction which appeared to be
doubtful he should, if he was a man of religion, appeal to his own
conscience and not to a mufti. He should also refrain from all transac-
tions with tyrants or those connected with them. Here Ghazali points
out the dilemma of the believer in a world given over to evil. Some, he
writes, maintained that in the light of this prohibition no trade at all
could be carried out; he refutes this view and states that it was merely
necessary to exercise due precaution, (vii) Whoever would occupy
himself in commerce should resolve to be honest in his dealings. 2

Najm ad-Din Razi, like Ghazali, considers those who looked
upon the commerce of this world as an end in itself to be blame-
worthy. The merchant, if he was to carry on commerce with the next
world in view, subordinating the concerns of this world to those of the
next, to associate with prophets and saints, and to attain to the status

1 It may be that this prejudice against sea journeys, which is found in some
other writers also, was a contributory factor in the transfer of the carrying trade
in the Mediterranean to non-Muslims.

2 Kimiyd as-Sa'ddat, pp. 147ff.

THE MERCHANT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

127

of a true man, should make piety his inner and outer garment. He
should consider all wealth (mat) to belong to God; and resolve to take
possession of it for the benefit of the servants of God in accordance
with the command and to the satisfaction of God and devote any
profit deriving therefrom to the servants of God, among whom were
numbered himself and his family. He should observe equity in his
dealings, buy and sell on easy terms, and carry goods from city to city
thus providing for the needs of the people so that they could worship
with their minds at rest. He should be satisfied with a small profit.
Slaves should not be bought and sold. Wherever he went he should
visit the tombs of pious and holy men. 1 Najm ad-Din. thus looks at
trade in the light of its contribution to the achievement of religious
ends. There is no hint in his exposition of the excellency of wealth for
its own sake; trade is regarded merely as a means of furthering the
ultimate aims for the securing of which the Muslim community
exists.

It would not perhaps be unreasonable to seek the influence of
these two theories on society at two different levels. The theory which
praises wealth as a good in itself was presumably predominantly,
though not exclusively, the ethic of the large-scale merchant. On the
other hand the influence of the ethical theory of trade can perhaps be
seen in the organization of the craft gilds and their connexion with the
Sufi orders. The information available on these matters and the
position and status of the merchant in society is, however, mainly of
an incidental nature. In the expositions of the philosophers the
merchants are placed after the religious classes, the military, and the
bureaucracy; the artisans are ranked with or after the merchants. 2
Mention of the merchant classes in dynastic and local histories and
biographical dictionaries is meagre — which is in itself perhaps a
comment on the status which they held in society. The muhtasib
literature describes, among other things, the fraudulent practices of
merchants. The geographers, while they are a rich source of informa-
tion on the subject of trade routes and manufactures, tell us little of
the merchants themselves.

All those concerned with the supply of provisions and in manu-
facture and trade appear to have been organized from early times into

1 Ed. Husam al-Husayni an-Ni'matullahi, Tehran, 1933-4, pp. 299-300.

2 See my inaugural lecture Islamic Society in Persia (School of Oriental
and African Studies, 1954).

128

A LOCUST S LEG

gilds, including the money-changers and goldsmiths, who were
always, or nearly always, located in the centre of the bazaar. There is no
evidence that there was an original joint gild to which both merchants
and artisans belonged. The main purposes of this gild organization
were two: first individuals by their association together were more
easily able to resist demands by the government, in other words the
gild organization was a measure of self-help; and secondly — and here
a parallel is to be sought with the Byzantine empire with its autocratic
centralization — the gild organization was, somewhat paradoxically,
encouraged by the government to facilitate its control of economic
life, the collection of taxes, and the performance of corvees. Merchant
gilds comparable to those in western Europe did not exist; but the
merchants nevertheless played an important role in society, especially
in the provision of funds. This function was also performed by
jahbadha who were, on the one hand, bankers of a sort and on the
other "official money-changers cum sureties, who verified and
standardized by exchange the different types of currency, good and
bad, paid by the taxpayers in return for a small percentage collected
as a supplementary tax from the latter". 1 It is difficult to draw a clear
distinction between the jahbadh in his capacity of banker and the
large-scale merchant because business in money and business in goods
were closely connected throughout the middle ages in the Middle East
as in Europe. Both classes engaged in mercantile and money transac-
tions and the origin of the wealth of many jahbadha was probably
trade. Their activities included the administration, remittance, and
supply of funds.

A jahbadh is mentioned in Arabic sources of the time of al-
Mansur (136/754-158/775). By the fourth/tenth century the jahbadha
had become a numerous community. The diversity of coins in circu-
lation and the fluctuation in their value and the replacement of the
silver standard by the gold meant that the jahbadha played an im-
portant and necessary part in the tax collection. 2 Moreover in addition
there was, according to Fischel, at this time a "prodigious desire to
accumulate money" and people began to deposit their money with,

1 See article on Bayt al-Mdl in Encyclopaedia of Islam.

2 W. J. Fischel, Jews in the Economic and Political Life of Medieval Islam
(Royal Asiatic Society, London, 1937), pp. 3-4. See also C. Cahen, Quelques
problemes 6conomiques et fiscaux de l'lraq Buyide in Annates de I'Institut
d' Etudes Orientates, vol. x, 1952, pp. 338ff. and 353ff.

THE MERCHANT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

129

among others, merchants, money-changers, and jahbadha; but these
transactions were seldom entered in the books for fear of confiscation
by the government. 1 The money thus deposited was in all probability
used by them to finance their own mercantile and other activities. 2
Fischel quotes three instances of the extension of credit to the state by
jahbadha, one a loan negotiated by the wazir, Ibn Furat, probably about
311/923 from Joseph b. Phineas, and two negotiated by the wazir,
'All b. 'Isa, from Joseph b. Phineas and Aaron b. Amran. 3 On another
occasion, probably about 301/913 'All b. 'Isa also applied to them for
a loan and pledged as security uncashed letters of credit (suftajd) and
made arrangements for the payment of interest. 4 At-Tannukhi in
connexion with one of these loans negotiated by 'All b. 'Isa writes,
"For they (Joseph b. Phineas and Aaron b. Amran) were never dis-
missed until their death; and they were appointed in the days of ' Ubai-
dallah b. Yahya al-Khaqani. The Caliph did not want to dismiss them,
in order to uphold the dignity of the office of jahbadh in the eyes of the
merchants, so that the merchants might be ready to lend their money
through the jahbadh if necessary. Were a jahbadh to be dismissed and
another appointed in his place with whom the merchants had not yet had
any dealings, the business of the Caliph would come to a standstill" . 5

Meanwhile, however, partly because of the breakdown in the
financial administration of the 'Abbasid empire the practice of tax-
farming spread and a tendency arose towards a confusion of the
functions of the merchant, the landowner, the government official,
and the tax-farmer and a concentration of their various functions in
one person, which upset the balance of society and the administration.
The results of this were not, perhaps, immediately apparent: "the
economic and cultural revival which had followed the 'Abbasid
accession based on the exploitation of the resources of the Empire
through industry and trade" continued. Nasir-i Khusraw mentions
that there were two hundred money-changers in Isfahan in 444/1052. 7
But with the increased militarisation of the state in the 5th/l 1th and
6th/12th centuries there was a general tendency for the position and

X W. J. Fischel, pp. 13-15.

2 Ibid., p. 26.

3 Ibid., pp. 23^.
i Ibid., p. 24.

6 Ibid., p. 28.

6 See article on 'Abbasids in the Encyclopaedia of Islam.

7 Safar-Ndma (ed. Schefer, Persian text), p. 92.

130

a locust's leg

status of the merchants, like that of other classes, to be depressed; and
with the decline in economic prosperity which took place in the
6th/13th century the importance of the jahbadha decreased until they
finally disappeared as a special class, the functions which they had
formerly performed being carried out, so far as these functions con-
tinued to exist, by the merchants and money-changers. Throughout
the later middle ages the role of these two groups was not unimportant .
The government in large measure relied on them for the provision of
loans in times of crisis; and this to some extent limited the extortion
to which they were subject. A close connexion often existed between
the merchant classes, the bureaucracy, and the landowners. 1

In this brief outline I have attempted to show that the merchant
played a vital part in the economic life of the lands of the Eastern
Caliphate in the middle ages. On the other hand there is little or no
evidence— at least in the present state of our knowledge— to show that
the merchant class was a force making for significant change within
society. I would suggest that the reasons for this, at least in part, are to
be found in the ideal set out by Islamic theorists, which looked to the
craftsman and the small merchant rather than the large-scale mer-
chant, and in the generally levelling tendencies of Turkish military
government, the confusion of the functions of the tax-farmer, govern-
ment official, landowner, merchant, and banker, and the restriction
placed in practice on the fields in which the citizen was able to exercise
his civic functions. These tendencies militated against, if they did not
actually prevent, the emergence of strong merchant gilds and merchant
companies and with them a strong middle class. Further, it may have
been due in part to the general failure of the merchant to give a lead
that factional strife and mob uprisings were a common feature of life
in the towns of the Islamic Middle East and civic institutions were
slow to develop. 2

1 In nineteenth century Persia the merchants played an important part in
financing the activities of the government; and the payment of the revenue
quota due from a provincial governor had in some cases to be guaranteed by a
merchant before the governor designate set out for his government.

2 See, however, C. Cahen, Zur Geschichte der stadtischen Gesellschaft im
islamischen Orient des Mittelalters, for a discussion of various forms of associa-
tion in the medieval Islamic town.

YIMA AND KHVARENAH IN THE
AVESTAN GATHAS

By WOLFGANG LENTZ

Yima, Modern Persian Jam or Jamshid, is well known in the epic
tradition of Iran as the first man and the first king. He generally is
reported to occur once in the Zarathushtrian Gathas, Yasna 32.8, in
a polemic by the prophet against inducing people to eat portions of
meat.

Khvarenah, Modern Persian farr and xura, mostly rendered by
"glory", more recently by "fortune", was considered to be lacking in
the Gathas and to be represented only by an adjective x v arand in
Yasna 51.18.

The two stanzas run as follows:

aesqm aenayhq.ni vivayhuso sravi yimascit

yd masymg cixsnuso ahmdkdng gdus bagd x v dr3inno

aesqmcit a ahmi dwahml masda vicidoi aipl

tqm cistim dajdmdspo hvo.gvo istois x v ara?id
asd VBYdnte tat xsadram manayho vaijhms + vido
tat mm ddidi ahurd hyat mazdd rap tin tavd

32.8

51.18

Helmut Humbach, in his new translation of the Gathas, has,
however, clarified the interpretation of x v drdmno by relating it etymo-
logically to English "to swear", mythologically with the "lie" of
Yima recorded in the Younger Avesta, Yasht 19, 33 sq. From 32.7
he concludes an ordeal against Yima, and therefrom a technical use
of the Passive of srav- "to hear" which would be attested in these two
stanzas only: "zur Aussage gebracht werden". But the rich tradition
on this mythic figure does not know anything of such a procedure, and
the Passive of srav- is quite normal for becoming known by the

131

132 A LOCUST S LEG

popular epics. Humbach understands correctly gdus as a Norn. Sing.
and bagd as an Instr. Sing., adheres, however, to the usual interpreta-
tion of the latter as "portion" with the connotation of "Gliicksgabe".
Yasht 19.33 sq. has been elucidated long ago by the famous report in
the Shahnama on Jam's lie: the claim of himself being the creator of
the world which had been embellished by his works of civilization
before.

Yasna 32.5 sqq. deal with the evil actions by which a dragvant-, a
liar, seduced by the Daevas, can be recognized. Some of them become
apparent by ordeal, and the Wise Lord always knows (or: finds) best
the "remainder" — i.e. the slightest trace — of them (7). In opposition
to ordeals Yima's lie became obvious by the punishment immediately
following its revelation through an utterance, when the x"ar3iiah- left
him in the shape of a bird. The content of that utterance is hidden in
the Instr. bagd which belongs syntactically to x v dr3mno, also by the
order of words, and is used in an explicative sense here. It is baga-j
baya "god", which for unknown reasons has been contested in the
Avestan vocabulary for a couple of decades. The stanza, then, can be
understood in the following way:

"(It is by one) of these transgressions (that) even Yima, the son

of Vivahvan, became known,

who tried to compel our (fellow-country)men to do obeisance by

protesting himself to be God, the bull.

Even with the (remainder) of these transgressions (it happens) to

(us) according to thine decision, O Wise one."

However, the first man is mentioned in another Gathic passage,
Yasna 30.3. The much discussed stanza is this:

at td mainyu paouruye + ydyamd x v afnd + asrvdtsm
manahica vacahicd syaoBanoi hi vahyo aksmcd
dscd huddyho srds visydtd noit duzddyho

30.3

Here also Humbach has paved the way for a better understanding
of the context by eliminating allusions to the cosmogony and stating
that the first half of the Gatha deals with man in a decision of his
conscience. Later on, Humbach marred this insight by specifying that
conflict as one between different ways of offering. Linguistically, he
leaves the Ace. Du. hi in b untranslated, which shows that the duals
of the stanza do not stand on the same grammatical level. The mainyu

YIMA AND KHVARENAH

133

are the object of an act of discrimination by the yamd, which, through
an extension of the number of the finite verb similar to that in 5c, can
be inferred from visydtd "they went on to discriminate" in 3c.
x v afnd that has caused so much trouble to both ancient and modern
interpreters points to Yima's incest attested in Pahlavi:

"(Now) then, (as to) the two primeval spiritual forces, (already)
the twins (Yima and his sister), who have become known by their
sleeping together),

(went on to discriminate between) either of them, the better and
the evil one, in (their) thought, speech and action,
but (only) those who stand by the good one of both, not those,
who stand by the evil one, went on (since ever) to discriminate
rightly."

In 51.18 Humbach understands correctly x v arand as an Ace.
Plur. and rapm as an Iptv. Sing., but he fails to recognize that here the
mythical force is set in relationship to a number of outstanding Gathic
technical terms by way of antitheses.

"(It is) this knowledge (which) Jamaspa Hvogva chooses for him-
self with (the help of) truth

out of (his) search for supernatural forces of enlightenment, that
power of finding the good mind:
bestow that (also) upon me, O wise helper, which is thine."

A detailed justification of the above interpretation will be given
elsewhere. I beg, however, to submit briefly that there seems to me no
difference in substance between the treatment of the two, Yima and
Khvarenah, in the Gathas and the Younger Avesta. If this view holds
good, there may be a way to stop the growing tendency in our field to
atomization of the Avestan teaching into ever more separate Iranian
religions.

I at least can see no hostility on the prophet's side against the old
myths. On the contrary, he uses them as illustrations for his own
preaching. Perhaps he is even responsible for a development of those
myths out of the common Indo-Iranian heritage or for using features
that we do not know about from the Indian tradition, but which may
be alluded to in it, too, without having been correctly evaluated as yet.

The old combination of x v aranah- with Vedic svdrnara should
not be neglected. According to Heinrich Luders the Indian term
designates the fountain in the highest heaven sending out heavenly

134 A LOCUST S LEG

waters in which rtd "the truth" floats as a light mass. Harold Walter
Bailey — following a direction indicated by Karl Friedrich Geldner —
has explained x v ar3nah- as belonging to Mod. Pers. x v ardan in a
general sense of "to take", which, by the way, survives in an ex-
pression like [bi-)zamin x v ardan "to fall down", lit. "to grasp the
soil". This, however, does not imply a basic material signification of
the word upon which the British scholar puts so much emphasis in
attributing every hint at a spiritual level to later, although early
priestly speculation.

Already Avestan (ham-)grab, Sanskr. grbh, means not only "to
seize" but also "to conceive, to comprehend", Sogd. yrfi "to know".
Similarly is x v ardnah- "Greifen" in the sense of "Begreifen" as the
magic power of enlightenment. Semantically it stands quite near to
rayay- (perhaps also to Gathic ray-) with which it is often connected
in the Younger Avesta and which, then, as the "power of the intellect"
does not represent Lat. res, but Lat. reor, ratio; cf. Turf. Mid. Pers.
r'y, Mod. Pers. ray in a semantic overlapping with Arab, ra'y (the
latter already stated by Walter Bruno Henning).

It seems, as if a similar meaning applies even to some Rigvedic
passages with svdrnara. Rta floating in an "outflow" of svdrnara
suggests a mythologization of this idea. Such is certainly true of the
story of the unworthy who according to Yasht 19 try in vain to grasp
the x"ar3nah- that would ensure to them possession of the truth. For
them the force of enlightenment is ax v ardta "incomprehensible",
which term may thus point to the magic character of that force.

In the Rigveda Yima's counterpart Yama is led into temptation
by his twin sister Yami. This situation was taken by Zarathushtra as a
model for men standing at the crossroads between good and evil, so
far as their relationships on earth are concerned. By connecting Yima
with the concept of Khvarenah the first man could be shown in his
relation to the Godhead to have been tempted by his hybris.

In the Gathas this occurs in the form of a hymn intended for a
circle of initiates; they were to preserve the wording, including the
dialect of the prophet. The treatment in the Yashts, and similar
passages in Videvdat 2, seem to be intended for the common man.
Such texts, therefore, had to be transmitted in popular language and
may have been enriched by some detail or other in the course of the
tradition.

KANZ AL-QAFIYAH [or AL-QAWAFl]

BY 'ALl 'IZZ AL-DIN BAHRAMI-YI SARAKHSl
By R. LEVY

A small manuscript of fifty folios in the India Office Library (D.P.
1217), probably dating from the seventeenth century, contains the
text of a Persian rhyming dictionary by Shaikh 'All 'Izz al-Dln al-
Sarakhsi, who can with little doubt be identified with the poet known
as Bahrami. The work is mentioned by Nizami-yi 'Amdl in the
Chahar Maqalah (ed. MIrza Muhammad Qazwlnl, Gibb Series,
p. 30) as Kanz al-qafiyah, as also in Mirza Muhammad's preface to
the Mu'jamfl ma'dyir ash'dr al-'ajam by Shamsi Qays (Gibb Series,
p. XIII), although in the present manuscript the title given to it is
Kanz al-qawdfi.

Bahrami's verses are frequently cited in the Lughat-i Furs by
Asadi, but the poet's exact date remains doubtful. The manuscript of
another work — one preserved in the Vienna Library — is declared to
be an autograph by Asadi bearing the date 446/1054-5, and this
provides a terminus ad quern for Bahrami. According to Hidayat
(Majma' al-fusahd, I, p. 173), he was a contemporary of Nasir al-Dln
Sabuktagin the Ghaznawid (d. 387/997) and nevertheless died in
500/1106-7. The two statements are incompatible and the probability
is that it was with Mahmud (d. 421/1030) that the poet was con-
temporary, as stated by Haft Iqlim.

According to Hidayat (loc. cit.) and E. G. Browne {Literary
History, II, p. 20), Bahrami's works Ghdyat al-'ariidiyain and Kanz
al-qafiyah appear to have been lost, but there is little doubt that we
here have a copy of the latter work, an interesting and valuable addi-
tion to our small stock of prose in early Islamic Persian. Though
legible enough the copy was made by a scribe not very familiar with
Arabic, who has obviously miswritten the original text in parts and
hence provided a number of uncertainties. In spite of that, the
Introduction is so brief as to bear an attempt at translation in full.

135

i 3 6

A locust's leg

Translation

"Praise be to Allah who created the tongue [reading al-lisan for
al-insdn of the text] in his constitution of man and endowed him with
speech and understanding. And blessings be upon his Prophet,
distinguished as the most eloquent of the Arabs and of the (?) per-
spicuous [reading al-abyan for al-tayan], his household and Com-
panions.

"The composer of (this) out-of-the way work and compiler of
this unusual treatise, the defender of the Indubitable, 'Izz al-Din (sic)
Shaikh 'All 'Izz al-Din Sarakhsi (May Allah prosper his future!),
declares that the foundation of verse rests upon familiarity with
rhyme in the same way that the structure of metre stands upon
knowledge of prosody. Verse in itself does not comprise rhyme, which
corresponds in verse to the knot in a string of pearls; as a round of
pearls becomes a necklace by reason of the knots, so the round
of words becomes [a succession of] hemistichs by reason of the
rhymes.

"For the poet rhyme is the guide-post to his themes and is of all
essentials the most important to him, because verse is founded on it
and without it verse-composition is impossible, however numerous
the themes. It sometimes happens that a poet is at a loss for a rhyme,
so that his work fails to make progress and he cannot find one in spite
of all his efforts, though that is better than feebleness of invention on
the poet's part. The fact is that a poet's failure to find rhymes may be
due to one of two reasons, either that they do not exist or are pre-
carious, or else that although they may be plentiful they are out of the
poet's ken. That explains why some poets, having begun a piece of
verse for which there is an abundance of rhymes, declare that such or
such rhyming is precarious and then leave their composition un-
completed with only ten or five out of twenty [lines] done. Sometimes
there may be fifty rhymes, but they are of no avail if the poet is
ignorant of them.

"Even when in circumstances of difficulty — as in improvisation —
the poet uses a [?] foreign rhyme, since it is not normally used in
speech it is remiss and is disapproved. Suppose further it is desired to
compose a qasidah in which some circumstance has to be explained in
detail or some narrative [? qsm. Read qissah?] has to be recounted in
poetic fashion so as to demand length for completion, the task of
rhyming cannot be achieved without repetition or over-frequent use.

KANZ AL-QAFIYAH

x 37

"For such reasons as these the poet needs an introductory manual
to enable him to pay due attention to rhymes and be so fully informed
and equipped that he will not fail to produce [good] poetry, thus
opening to [his audience] the door of verse and attaining his ambition.
This consummation cannot be achieved by the poet unless he has
before him a great many diwans and dictionaries — and this is only for
him that has the means — or else acquires a work in which all [possible]
rhymes are set out in proper order, and that is something unattainable.
I required something of the kind and cast about everywhere to obtain
some such work, but without success. Whenever I needed a rhyme I
had to search through diwans or lexicons, being sometimes successful
sometimes not. Most poets have been disappointed in this way when
composing a rhyme, after consulting diwans or dictionaries.

"My view strongly inclines to the conclusion that even if a poet
had fifty diwans or fifty dictionaries, it would cost him great labour to
go through them all and he would even then not find the rhymes he
was looking for; in fact the whole [?] collection would fail to include the
idea of the thing. Seeing that one of the essentials of the art is rhyme,
it became my desire to put together a linguistic manual, based on the
laws of rhyme, which should comprise all possible rhymes. With it I
would rescue poets from rhyme-hunting, because once they had this
manual in their hands they would be supplied with full information
about their rhymes and have no need of any other book. Instantly
then, whenever they want to compose a qasidah or a ghazal, whether
in Arabic or Persian, they can look in the book and find [what they
want] without any trouble and be independent of all diwans.

"The work is the fulfilment of a promise which I had long ago
made to the [poetic] profession that I would compile such a book, and
I looked for complete freedom [from other occupation] so that I could
carry out the task. However, one day I was present with our exalted
Master, the [great] author in verse and prose, rarest of his era. lord of
speech, my master Nasr al-Din Hajji Mahmiid al-Mashhadi* (May
his talents be everlasting!), whose clear mind sees far into the subtleties
of ideas and whose inward genius is linked with understanding of
problems. Conversation ran upon the principles and practice of verse
and the discipline of verse-making in all its aspects, such as learning
prosody, acquiring a knowledge of rhymes and the like. I said that I

*Unidentified.

138 A locust's leg

was preparing a book dealing with language from the point of view of
the rules of rhyme and that it was to be of the greatest use, whether to
tiros, [mature] poets or men of letters.

"Since he is abundantly equipped with scholarship and is highly
endowed with poetic skill, as well as being [? text? qualified] in the
secretarial art, he wished to take advantage of this compendium. His
richly endowed mind was extremely interested in the book, so that he
displayed concern about its compilation, and kept enquiring after it.
Seeing that he was so eager, with his keen mind, to possess the work,
I determined to let this honoured person realise his aim as quickly as
possible, and so I worked with all speed to finish it, seeking help from
God (May he be glorified!). I collected all the rhymes that appear in
diwans and selected a great many words from lexicons, ignoring the
usual formations and separating the Arabic from the Persian words. I
then arranged them all in alphabetical order, keeping associated and
dissociated words [apart ?]. Thus I solved a problem difficult for
everybody and produced something whose utility will be agreeable to
all.

"And now that the compiling, arranging and editing of this
composition have been brought to a successful end I have entitled the
book 'The Treasury of Rhymes'. My request to the generosity of all
men of goodwill is that when they do this book the honour of perusing
it they will remember the author with a blessing, that they will keep
any errors covered up and hidden with the generous skirts of forgive-
ness, and that they will correct them. With Allah is success and upon
him is all reliance!"

After the introduction there follows immediately the dictionary
proper. "Bab-i alif. Saba, sibd, qabd, qifa", etc.

POINTS OF COMPARISON

BETWEEN ZOROASTRIANISM AND THE

MOON-CULT OF HARRAN

By HILDEGARD LEWY

In the opinion of some medieval savants, a close connection existed
between Zoroaster and the sectarians known as "the Sabians of
Harran" or simply "the Harranians". In his Chronology of Ancient
Nations, al-Biruni remarks that "Zoroaster took over half (of his
doctrine) from the Harranians", 1 while elsewhere in the same book he
stresses that the creed of the Zoroastrian community "is derived from
the laws of the Sun-worshippers and the ancient people of H arran "- 2
Again in another passage (not contained in Sachau's edition), al-
Biruni quotes Zoroaster as having written in an astrological work that,
as a young man, he studied in Harran. 3 As such statements of the
great Iranian scholar of the past cannot be lightly dismissed, it seems
appropriate to dedicate a brief discussion of these allusions to a great
Iranian savant of the present who has devoted so much of his life's
work to the study of Zoroastrianism.

I. Harran and its Deities in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages

The city of Harran in Mesopotamia was a famous cult center through-
out antiquity. In a letter from the time of king Zimri-Lim of Mari

1 Chronologie Orientalischer Volker von Alberiini, ed. Sachau, Leipzig, 1878,

p. 28, 1. 2: A-j_ U_p-I i_i~=J j-*>J C«*»J>l)j ■ Our reading '_"-,-' instead of \_«-,^ i
of the edition makes it unnecessary to emend the text as proposed by Sachau
on p. 376 of his translation; for as it stands, the text is in full agreement with
the passage quoted in the next footnote.

2 Op. cit., p. 318, 1. 6.

3 The passage was first communicated and translated byS. H. Taqizadeh
in Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, VIII, 4, 1937, pp. 949 and 952. The
full text of the gap on p. 206 of Sachau's edition of the Chronology is now
published by Johann Fuck, Documenta Islamica inedita, Berlin, 1952, pp. 74ff.,
sub II.

139

1^0 A LOCUST S LEG

(1777-1746 B.C.) mention is made of a treaty which the tribe of Ben-
jamin concluded with the kinglets of some neighboring states "in the
temple of Sin of Harran". 1 In the Neo- Assyrian period, Harran was
one of the royal cities of the empire. Both Esarhaddon and his
successor, Assur-ban-apli, proceeded in the beginning of their rule to
Harran in order to receive the royal tiara from "Sin who dwells in
Harran". 2 After a short eclipse prompted by the downfall of the
Assyrian empire, Harran again rose to major importance when the
scion of a Harranian family, king Nabu-na'id, 3 became ruler of
Babylonia (555-539 B.C.). The medieval Harranians were well aware
of the important role their city had played in antiquity. For, as
reported by an-Nadim, they prayed once a year, on a solemn occasion,
for "the restitution to them of their empire and the days of their
domination". 4

The continuity of the medieval Harranian tradition is revealed
not only by this historical reminiscence. Their principal deity was
still the Moon-god Sin; 5 his titles and epithets were the same as in
antiquity: Bel Harrdna, as the deity is occasionally called, 6 corresponds
to the Assyrian epithet Bel Harran; 1 the titles i&J VI *J[, "god of the

1 See the passage quoted by G. Dossin, Melanges Syriens offerts a M. Rene
Dussaud, II, Paris, 1939, p. 986.

2 See the passages quoted by J. Lewy, The Late Assyro-Baby Ionian Cult of
the Moon and its Culmination at the Time of Nabonidus, Hebrew Union College
Annual, XIX, 1946, pp. 456ff.

3 Nabu-na'id's mother, Adad-guppi, was a native of Harran; for the text of
her much-discussed funerary inscription see now C. J. Gadd, The Harran
Inscriptions of Nabonidus, Anatolian Studies, VIII, 1958, pp. 46ff.

1 See his Kitdb ul-Fihrist (ed. Fliigel, Leipzig, 1871-2), p. 324, 11. 15f.

6 The name Sin is used by al-Biruni, op. cit., p. 205, 11. 16ff., and in the
Fihrist, p. 321, 1. 29; p. 322, 1. 11, and p. 325, 1. 5. Cf. further the name Dair
Sinai, "Shrine of Sin", of one of the sanctuaries of Harran. The form ^L*
(instead of l y r J) listed by Fliigel, op. cit., II, p. 159, as occurring in one of the
variants of the passage p. 321, 11. 29ff. explains why one of the numerous
references to the god of Harran contained in the Fihrist (p. 322, 1. 4) character-
ized Sin not as aJ I but as ifc V I : A copyist acquainted with Greek mythology
obviously mistook ,\~^ for a scribal error for ,j~L<., "Selene", and therefore
believed that the god of Harran was a female deity.

Al-Biruni, op. cit., p. 320, 1. 5.

7 This designation of the Moon-god occurs not infrequently in Neo-
Assyrian personal names; see K. Tallqvist, Assyrian Personal Names, Acta
Societas Scient. Fennicae, XLIII, 1, Helsingfors, 1914, pp. 56f.

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN 141

gods", and ^£J.Vl vj , "lord of the gods" 1 are translations of Sin's
Akkadian attributes ild?ii ME ^ 2 sa ildni^^ anc i hel ild?ii M ™. 3

Sin's divine consort who bears in Akkadian sources the color-
less name Ningal, "The Great Lady", is called by the medieval
Harranians Harranit. 4 That both designations refer to the same
goddess can be inferred from an-Nadim's remark that Harranit was
the mother of the gods enumerated by him previously. In Akkadian
texts, Ningal in characterized as umnm Hani rabuti, "mother of the
great gods". 5 Far more important, however, is the statement (an-
Nadim, p. 325, 11. 20f.) that "hers were six evil spirits" and that "she
used to proceed with them to the seashore". In as much as this implies
that Harranit was one of the seven evil spirits which, as will be

1 For the former title see as-Sahristani's Kitdb al-milal zva'l-nihal, ed.
Cureton, London, 1846, p. 203, 1. 17; ad-Dimisqi's Cosmographie, ed. M. A. F.
Mehren, St. Pdtersbourg, 1866, p. 47. For the latter see Fihrist, p. 325, 1. 18.

2 The plural ildni MES must be regarded as a pluralis majestatis; cf. H. Lewy,
Origin and Significance of the Mdgen Ddwid, Symbolae Hrozny, IV (Archiv
Orientdlni, XVIII), 1950, p. 347, note 82.

3 The former title is used in Nabu-na'id's foundation cylinder from the
stage-tower at Ur, col. I, 1. 29; col. II, 1. 5 (for a transliteration and translation
of this inscription see S. Langdon, Die neubabylonischen Konigsinschriften,
Vorderasiatische Bibliothek, IV, Leipzig, 1912, pp. 250ff., No. 5); for the latter
see col. I, 1. 28 and col. II, 1. 3 of the same text.

4 This name, which was no longer understood in the Middle Ages, appears
in Arabic sources in various misspellings. An-Nadim, for instance, in his-
enumeration of the Harranian deities {op. cit., p. 325, 1. 20), writes i_jUj». or
tjL"=- (for the variants see Fliigel, op. cit., I, p. 160), while al-Biruni, in his list
of Harranian festivals (p. 321), offers, under Aiar 11, 12, 13, and 15, the spelling
\*Jijj>. or the like. The correct reading can be inferred from the following
data: In a legend told by the Alexandrian bishop Eutychius (see Eutychii
Patriarchae Alexandrini Annales; interprete Edwardo Pocockio, Patrologia
Graeca, ed. Migne, vol. CXI, Paris, 1863, p. 923, sub 72) and dealing with the

first construction of the Moon-temple of Harran, Sin's spouse appears as 1 J U. .

Yet in two variant versions of this legend (see Baudissin, Zeitsch. der Deutschen
Morgenldnd. Ges., LXVI, 1912, p. 172, note), viz., in the Syriac work known as
The Cave of the Treasures (ed. Bezold, Die Schatzhohle, II, Leipzig, 1888; see
p. 154, 11. 13f.) and in a work of Gregorius al-Makin (we quote this authority
according to Johann H. Hottinger, Smegma Orientale, Heidelberg, 1658, p. 324,
who excerpted large parts of the text of al-Maldn's work), the name is written
Haranit and i_^~j I -=- , respectively. The reading Harranit is all the more plausible
since other Assyrian and Babylonian city goddesses were referred to in a like
manner: Assuritum was the divine patroness of Assur, Kisitum that of Kis, etc.

6 See Nabu-na'id's text No. 1 {Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, V,
London, 1884, No. 64, transliterated and translated by Langdon, op. cit.,
pp. 218ff., No. 1), col. II, 1. 38.

142

A LOCUST S LEG

presently seen, played an important role in the cult of the Moon, it
corresponds to the designation of Ningal as d Zaqiqu ( d si)-VII bl which
occurs in an explanatory list of gods. 1 As on several Harranian coins
from the time of Antoninus Caracalla (A.D. 211-17) the city-goddess
is represented with a serpent, 2 it may further be concluded that this
deity was symbolized by a snake. This again is a millennia-old tradi-
tion; for on numerous Old Assyrian seal impressions 3 the Moon-god 4
is accompanied by a snake shown either behind or before his throne.
Among the lesser deities listed by an-Nadim as belonging to the
Harranian pantheon there is a pair of twins, one of whom is called
JuJ (p. 325, 1. 18), i.e., Phosphor(os), "the light-bearer", while the
other bears the name _^a^js , i.e., "Castor" {ibidem, 1. 19), "one of
two twins". These two deities are known in Akkadian mythology as
Bilgi, "The Flame", and Nusku. They impersonate the planet
Mercury as evening and morning star, respectively. 6 In later Akka-
dian sources which reflect the time when the identity of the two pairs
of inferior planets 6 was recognized, only Nusku appears in the usual
enumerations of Harranian gods. 7

1 See K.2054 published in Cnn. Inscriptions of Western Asia, V, pi. XXX,
No. 1 (= Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum,
XVIII, pi. 29), col. I, 1. 46 a b. That si has here the meaning zaqiqu, "wind",
"storm" (see Deimel, Sumerisches Lexikon, I, Rome, 1925, No. 112, 24) can be
inferred from a comparison of the words AN vn w KI vn w SI VII* 1 ' AMA VII 6 ',
as found in the Leiden text No. 1005 (see Bohl, Mededeelingen uit de Leidsche
Verzameling van Spijkerschrift-Inscripties, II, Mededeelingen der Koninklijke
Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, 78, serie B, No. 2, Amsterdam,
1934, pp. 31f.) with the phrase an vii ki vii im vii im-gal vh (see obv., col. II,
1. 19 of the text K.2542, etc., published by Langdon, Historical and Religious
Texts from the Temple Library in Nippur [The Babyl. Expedition of the University
of Pennsylvania, XXXI], Mfinchen, 1914, No. 60; for a transliteration and
translation see ibidem, pp. 58ff.); for si vn fo ' of the Leiden text has obviously the
same or a similar meaning as im vii in the Kouyunjik tablet.

2 See G. F. Hill, Catalogue of Greek Coins of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and
Persia, London, 1922, pi. XII, Nos. 21 and 22; cf. p. 87.

3 See, e.g., J. Lewy, Tablettes Cappadociennes, 3 me serie, 3 me partie
{Musee du Louvre, Textes Cuneiformes, XXI), pi. CCXXXIV, Nos. 54, 64, and 65.

4 That the seated deity on these seal pictures is the Moon-god is indicated
by the crescent enclosing a disk which, in turn, encloses a star. This symbol, too,
recurs with slight variations on Harranian coins of later periods; see, e.g., Hill,
op. cit., pi. XII, No. 9.

On these two deities see H. and J. Lewy, The God Nusku, Orientalia,
N.S., 17, 1948, pp. 146ff.

6 Namely Venus and Mercury, both of which are seen as morning and
evening star.

7 See, e.g., col. II, 11. 10 and 14 of the afore-quoted funerary inscription

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN 1 43

An-Nadim further lists a Harranian god Tamuza; 1 the same
deity recurs in al-Biruni's list of Harranian festivals under the seventh
day of Haziran (p. 321, 1. 7), on which day he was remembered with
lamentation and weeping. This deity corresponds to the well-known
Sumero-Akkadian god Tammuz or Dumuzi, the god of vegetation
whose annual death and resurrection were celebrated throughout the
ancient Near East. Two further deities occurring in al-Biruni's festal
calendar deserve mention because, much as Tamuza, they preserved
their Akkadian names with only minor changes: Beltan, used in p. 320,
1. 18 with reference to the planet Venus 2 stands for Assyrian Beltani,
"Our Lady", 3 while ol^ALo (p. 321, 1. 11) is a dual of Dilbat, the
Akkadian astronomical designation of the planet Venus, the dual
apparently being due to the fact that Venus is both evening and
morning star. 4

As it would require too much space to parallel each of the
Harranian festivals enumerated by al-Biruni and an-Nadim with the
corresponding Assyrian celebrations, we limit ourselves to men-
tioning that an aMw-festival was celebrated by the medieval Har-
ranians for their tutelary god, Sin. Evidence to this effect is contained
in a story told by an-Nadim (p. 325, 11. 23ff.) which begins as follows:
"And among their (i.e., the Harranians') gods was the water-idol
(aTll jt-V), that which disappeared from among the gods 5 in the days of
the Pleiades". 6 The Fihrist continues to relate that the "water-idol"

of Nabu-na'id's mother; or col. Ill, 1. 23 of Nabii-na'id's inscription H 2 (pub-
lished by Gadd, loc. cit., pp. 56ff. and pi. IXff.).

1 That this, and not Tamura, is the correct reading of this divine name
was observed by Baudissin, loc. cit., p. 171ff.

2 The reading (jbL instead of (jLL of the edition was first proposed by
J. Lewy, Orientalia, N.S., 15, 1946, p. 375, note 2.

3 On this form see J. Lewy, loc. cit., p. 369, note 9.

4 Cf. above, p. 142, notes 5f. and see the present writer's study The
Babylonia?! Background of the Kay Kails Legend, Symbolae Hrozny', II (Archiv
Orientdlni, XVII, 2), 1949, p. 40, note 60.

5 <LgJ j I |VJ hlujj JaiLu is occasionally used for the setting of the Moon

and particularly for the disappearance of the Pleiades (rtr?^! JaJL«); see Lane,
s.v. JaL*. In our passage, the term therefore seems to indicate that the deity
in question (in whom we shall presently recognize the Moon) was thought to
disappear together with the Pleiades. See also the next footnote.

c i_yj^i J=J 4i2-J «lji (J. We read, with a slight emendation (j instead
of j and a), Aorrjp Tttpawucog, "The Tyrannic Star". As the context requires

Continued on page 144

i44

A LOCUST S LEG

left Harran followed by the townspeople who implored it to return,
which it eventually consented to do; and each year, on the twentieth
day of Nisan, the Harranians went out to await its return. In
order to understand this relation it must be remembered that in the
major cities of Assyria and Babylonia an akitu-festival was celebrated
each year in honor of the city's patron god. In the course of this
celebration, the statue of the god proceeded, first by chariot and then
by barge, on a river, from its metropolitan sanctuary to a suburban
shrine, the akitu-temple. This exodus symbolized the deity's descent
to the Netherworld, the crossing of the "River of the Dead" being
represented by the procession by barge on the nearest river or stream.
Since it is known from several Sumerian compositions glorifying the
Moon-god "when, in Ur, he mounteth the sacred barge" 1 that the
barge-procession played a particularly important part in the cult of
the Moon, it becomes apparent that the "water-idol" in an-Nadim's
story was the Moon-god of Harran en route to his akitu-temple. The
Moon-god's departure is known to have taken place on the day of the
Moon's conjunction with the Pleiades preceding the latter constella-
tion's heliacal setting, an event which fell between the fifteenth and
twentieth day of the month of Adaru. 2 The designation "days of the

the designation of a certain season of the year, it is clear that the "Tyrannic
Star" cannot be a planet but must be a fixed star or fixed star constellation
determining the date of the annual celebration. Which constellation is meant
follows from the Akkadian ritual text VAT 8996 (published by Ebeling, Keil-
schrifttexte aus Assur religiosen Inhalts, III, Leipzig, 1919, No. 141; for a trans-
literation and translation see Ebeling, Tod und Leben nach den Vorstellungen der
Babylonier, Berlin and Leipzig, 1931, No. 22, pp. 87ff.), which refers to an
invocation addressed to \kd\kkab Zappu as-tu-ma, "The Pleiades, the tyrannic
(star)"; on the identity of mul.mul or kakkab Zappu with the Pleiades see
Kugler, Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, Erganzungen zum I. und II. Buch,
Minister, 1913, pp. 23ff., 46, and 152f.

1 See especially 11. 19ff. of the hymn VATh. 414 published by Reisner,
Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen nach Thontafeln griechischer Zeit, Berlin, 1896,
No. 38; for the latest translation see A. Falkenstein in A. Falkenstein and W.
von Soden, Sumerische und Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete, Zurich-Stuttgart,
1953, No. 13.

2 Two Neo-Assyrian letters, 81-7-27,30 and K.1234 (published by
Harper, Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire, VII, 1902, No. 667, and
II, 1893, No. 134) mention the 17th day of an unnamed month as the date on
which the statue of Sin left Harran for the akitu-temple. That his month must
have been Adaru follows from the following consideration: According to the
astronomical commentary B.M. 86378 (published by King, Cun. Texts from
Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, XXXIII, London, 1912, pi. I-VIII;
for a transliteration see Weidner, Handbuch der babylonischen Astronomie, I,

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

Pleiades" in an-Nadim's account therefore obviously refers to the days
between the conjunction and the annual disappearance of the Pleiades. 1

II. The Dualistic Principle in the Religion of Harran

As this brief survey makes it clear that the pantheon as well as the
ritual of the medieval Harranians perpetuated the millennia-old
Assyro-Babylonian Moon-cult, we are safe in relying not only on
medieval Harranian but also on Akkadian sources when attempting to
determine the character of this religion. As a general rule, the deities
of the ancient inhabitants of Babylonia and Assyria can be charac-
terized as the impersonators of phenomena of nature, the qualities
ascribed to each god being derived from the effect of the respective
phenomenon on mankind. To illustrate the point, we refer to Enlil,
the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon whose name characterizes
him as the "Lord Wind". Being a wind, Enlil was assumed to bring
the rain-carrying clouds and thus, by filling the rivers and canals with
water, to promote agricultural life. Accordingly, he was revered as a
god of fertility, as the father who created food and drink for men and
animals. 2 However, Enlil also embodied tempests and hurricanes,
and in this quality he was dreaded as a most destructive and deadly
god. 3 A similarly two-natured deity was Santas, the Sun-god. With-
out his light and his warmth neither human nor plant or animal life
was possible on earth. On the other hand, the Sun can also burn up
the crops, dry out the rivers and, by sunstroke, kill men and animals.
The religions which centered around deities like Enlil and Samas were

Leipzig, 1915, pp. 35-9), col. IV, 11. 15f., the heliacal rising of the Pleiades
took place on Aiaru 1 . As the heliacal setting of the Pleiades precedes their rising
by from 39 to 42 days, the setting must have been fixed between Adaru 17 and
Adaru 21. The conjunction of the Pleiades with the Moon fell a few days before
their setting. In fact, in a letter of king Samsi-Adad I of Assyria (1815-1783
B.C.), Adaru 16 is mentioned as the date of an akitu-festival (see G. Dossin,
Archives Royales de Mari, I, Paris, 1950, No. 50, 11. 5f.).

1 From an-Nadim's relation it would appear that at the time when he
gathered his information only the return of the statue to Harran, on Nisan 20,
was celebrated by the townspeople who gathered at a site called Dair Kadi. To
judge by al-Biruni's report, op. cit., p. 320, sub Adar 8, the 31 days of the god's
absence were taken up by lamentation and fasting.

2 See, e.g., rev., 11. 2ff. of the hymn to Enlil, B.M. 13963 published by
King, Cun. Texts from Babyl. Tablets in the British Museum, XV, London, 1902,
pi. X. For the latest translation see A. Falkenstein in Falkenstein and von
Soden, op. cit., pp. 76f., No. 11.

3 See, e.g., 11. 4ff. of the text B.M. 29644 published by King, op. cit.,
pi. XI; for the latest translation see Falkenstein, op. cit., pp. 77f., No. 12.

146 a locust's leg

monistic in character, which means both good and evil, life and death,
blessing and punishment, beauty and ugliness were thought to be
dispensed to mankind by one single divine being.

However, nature also provides phenomena which, so far as the
human mind can conceive, do no harm to life on earth, never create
destruction and ugliness, and are always beautiful and beneficial to
human beings. These are the phenomena of the nocturnal sky, in
particular the Moon and certain planets. The Moon-god Sin, accord-
ingly, was conceived by his worshippers as sublimely beautiful; he
was the symbol of male beauty and strength. 1 Furthermore, he was
gracious and merciful, he did favors wherever his eye turned and saved
whatever his hand seized. 2 His "word", i.e., the breath of his mouth,
was thought to create justice and righteousness causing men to speak
the truth. 3 Appearing, in the beginning of each month, as a small,
slender sickle, then growing to his full size and beauty, finally waning
and eventually disappearing he was a symbol of life; he was, therefore,
revered as the creator and preserver of life on earth. 4 By repeating
his course with no perceptible changes month after month, year after
year, and generation after generation, he was the symbol of eternity.

If thus the Moon embodied for his worshippers all that is good,
beautiful, and beneficial, life-giving and life-preserving, the question
arose as to the cause of ugliness, evil, and death on earth. As none of
these qualities was ascribed to the Moon-god, the existence of a
second divine power which brought the evil things to the human race,
suggested itself to the Moon-worshippers. The character of this force
can be inferred from a legend preserved in a cycle of mythological
poems which the ancients called atukki limniiti, "The Evil Spirits". 6
Here it is related that a group of seven evil spirits who, because they
always acted as a unit, were usually called the Evil Heptad, broke,
with the help of Samas, the Sun-god, and Adad, the weather-god,
into the vault of heaven and succeeded in darkening the Moon.

1 See in particular 11. luff, of the hymn K.2861 +4999 + 5068 + 5297
published in The Cun. Inscriptions of Western Asia, IV 2 , pi. IX; for the latest
translation see Falkenstein, op. cit., pp. 222ff., No. 44.

2 See ibidem, 11. 36f.

3 See ibidem, 1. 31.

4 See ibidem, 11. 13—16.

5 The work was published by R. C. Thompson, Cun. Texts from Babyl.
Tablets in the British Museum, XVI, London, 1902. For a transliteration and
translation by the same savant see The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, I,
London, 1903.

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

147

Having thus deprived mankind and the earth of their divine protector,
they returned to earth and slew, destroyed, ravaged, and killed what-
soever and whomsoever they met in their path. The nature of the Evil
Heptad who thus appears as the Moon-god's arch-enemy, is described
in detail in the series utukki limnuti. They were evil winds which had
their home in the Netherworld, 1 whence they emerged through holes
and crevasses whenever the opportunity presented itself, in order to
do their deadly and destructive work on earth. In fact, every evil thing
in human life was attributed to the action of the Evil Seven. Not only
were they thought to propagate fever and disease 2 and to destroy
what human hands had built, but they also perverted the human mind
causing men to go astray. Thus a most characteristic feature of the
religion of Sin becomes apparent: A luminous heavenly phenomenon
embodies the Good Principle, and a phenomenon assumed to originate
in the darkness of the earth impersonates the Evil Principle. Since, as
was mentioned above, Sin's spouse, Harranit, was one of the Evil
Heptad, we must further conclude that the Good Principle was, at
least according to a certain theology, a male, whereas the Evil
Principle was a female.

The Evil Heptad, however, was not in itself a great god, which

1 The Evil Heptad was thought to be the offspring of Ereskigal, the
goddess of the Netherworld; for a transliteration, translation, and discussion of
the pertinent passages see H. and J. Lewy, The Origin of the Week (Hebrew Union
College Annual, XVII, Cincinnati, 1943), pp. 17-23.

It may be remarked that the idea of the evil winds residing in the mountains
that separate the lower world from the inhabited earth is not as farfetched as it
might appear at first sight. Whosoever visited a mountain cave such as the
famous "Cave of the Winds" near Manitou Springs, in Colorado, knows that in
these caves strong currents of air, being thrown back and forth by the walls of
the cave, produce a roaring sound which must have suggested to the Assyrians
(as it did to the Indians in the region of Manitou) that the cave was the home of
the winds. It is quite natural that such a mountain cave, particularly if it con-
tained a spring, was regarded as an entrance to, or an exit from, the lower world
where the evil winds were lurking, eager to break loose and wreak havoc on
earth. At least one mountain cave was well known to the Assyrians: it was the
cave, far to the north of Assyria, where the Tigris River has its source. On this
cave and the Assyrian inscriptions incised in its walls see E. Unger, Reallexikon
der Vorgeschichte, XIII, Berlin, 1929, pp. 311f.; cf. G. Le Strange, The Lands of
the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge, 1930, pp. llOf.

2 The reason why winds were assumed to be the carriers of disease must be
sought in the sickening effect of certain winds, especially the one known as
Hamsin in the Near East and as Scirocco in Southern Europe. Needless to
insist on the sickening qualities of the icy north wind which is said to be parti-
cularly bothersome in the region of Harran.

148

A LOCUST S LEG

means it was not an independent divine will but merely the "weapon",
or executive organ, of a greater deity. In the religion of the medieval
Harranians, this great deity was Samal, the north wind, 1 whereas in
the ancient religion the actions of the Evil Heptad were directed by
Irra or Nergal, 2 the god of the Netherworld, of pestilence, of plague,
and of war. That he actually embodied the Evil Principle in a dualistic
religion is well illustrated by the afore-cited irra legend. The subject
of this composition can be briefly summarized as follows: While under
the guidance of their patron god, the people on earth were pious and
god-fearing and lived in unity among each other. Irra, however,

1 According to an-Nadim's report on the Harranian ritual of the 27th day
of Haziran, an offering was presented to "the heptad of gods (and) Samal"
(p. 322, 1. 22). Under the 3rd of Ilul, the same author records the immolation of
"eight sheep, seven for the (heptad of) gods and one for the god Samal" (p. 323,
1.15).

2 According to the so-called irra legend (for the latest publication see
P. F. Gossmann Oesa, Das Era-Epos, Wiirzburg, 1956), the god Anu created the
Evil Seven in order that they might "walk at the side" of Irra. In the series
utukki limniiti it is stated that they "walk in front of Nergal" (see CT, XVI,
pi. XV, col. V, 11. 16-17; pp. 74f. of Thompson's transliteration and translation).
That Irra and Nergal are one and the same deity is shown by the equation "Irra
is the Nergal of Kutu", contained in rev., col. Ill, 1. 27 of the text VAT 9418
published by Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiosen Inhalts, III, No. 142.

Nergal was a son of Enlil and thus a brother of Sin. In fact, the oldest texts
mentioning Ur, the Moon-god's holy city, write its name with the ideogram
SES-ES, "The Brother's Abode" (see, e.g., 11. 3 and 5 of the foundation tablet of
A-anni-padda, king of Ur, reproduced by C. J. Gadd, History and Monuments of
Ur, London, 1929, pi. Xllb; see further the legend of the seal U.11825 pub-
lished in facsimile by Sir Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations, II, Plates, London
and Philadelphia, 1934, pi. 191 and 198). The name shows that, at that time, the
Moon-god was known as "The Brother". The same appears to have been true
at the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur when the patron god's name was com-
monly written with the signs dingir-ses-ki. The other brother's identity with
Nergal can be inferred from the fact that the same name was occasionally
applied to the divine lord of Kutu: in 1. 15 a b of the list of temple towers,
K.4337 (published in The Cun. Inscriptions of Western Asia, II, pi. 50), the
ziqqurrat of Kutu is designated as e-dingir-ses-ki, "House of dingir-ses-ki".
Cf. further the town of A-hu m which figures as a center of Nergal-worship in
rev., col. Ill, 1. 32 of the afore-quoted text VAT 9418.

Yet there is evidence to show that Sin and Nergal were regarded not only as
brothers but as twin-brothers. In B.M. 93038 {Cun. Texts from Babyl. Tablets,
XII, London, 1901, pi. XVI f.), Nergal is designated, in obv., col. II, 1. 39, as
mas.da, "The Sinister Twin". Even more significant is the evidence furnished
by the astronomical commentary 81,7-1,4 (The Cun. Inscriptions of Western
Asia, V, pi. 46, No. 1) where, in 11. 4f., the "big twins" (mas.tab.ba.gal.gal.la)
are identified with Lugal-girra and Meslamtaea who, in rum, are defined as Sin
and Nergal. Cf. Orientalia, N.S., 28, 1959, p. 121, note 6.

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

149

disliked this state of affairs and planned to change it. As he could not
carry out his plan so long as mankind was under the protection of its
patron god, he lured the god of Good into the Netherworld and seized
the reins of power on earth. As their new ruler, he first perverted the
minds of men so that they began to fight among each other; the
ensuing war gave him an opportunity to finish his work of destruction
and annihilation on earth. When the patron god returned, he found
his cities in ruins and his worshippers slain. The poem ends with an
exhortation to mankind to appease the evil god by allotting a place in
their cult to his service, so that he might spare them from another
catastrophe like the one described. The subject matter of the legend as
well as its treatment implies that, in his quality as a planet, the patron
god was unable to protect the community of his worshippers during
his periodic absences from the nocturnal sky. 1

From this legend as well as from that previously quoted from
utukki limniiti a further significant trait of the dualistic religion
becomes apparent. The god of Good, being unable to protect his
congregation and to prevent the god of Evil from attacking it, was not
an almighty god; on the contrary, he could not even protect himself
against the ruse and hostility of his adversaries. This point is brought
out with particular clarity in the so-called lamentation over the
destruction of ur. 2 In this composition which originated in Ur, the
center of Moon-worship in Southern Babylonia, the Moon-god's
adversary was, even as in the belief of the medieval Harranians, an
evil wind-storm, a "storm which destroys the cities, a storm which
destroys the houses" (1. 391), a "storm which finishes off what was
good in the land" (1. 395), a "storm which caused the light to perish in
the land" (1. 405). In vain Ningal, the Moon-god's consort, implored

1 For the present discussion it does not matter that in the irra legend the
protector of mankind was not Sin but Marduk and the congregation not the
Harranians but the people of Babylon. That the idea was the same wherever a
dualistic religion was practiced can be inferred from the dates on which the
medieval Harranians brought offerings to the Evil Seven and Samal: the 27th
of Haziran, the 27th of Tammuz, the 27th and 28th of Ilul, etc. are the days
preceding the Moon's conjunction with the Sun during which the Moon was, of
course, invisible, and therefore assumed to be unable to protect his congregation
against the action of the evil gods.

2 See S. N. Kramer, Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur, Chicago, 1940.
For the latest translation see A. Falkenstein, op. cit., pp. 192-213. Whereas, as
was stated above, in Harran, the Evil Principle was embodied by the north wind,
it appears that in Ur it was the south wind (11. 192 and 197), a difference which is
explained by the geographic and climatic conditions of the two cities.

150 A LOCUST S LEG

the lord of the evil winds to spare her city and her worshippers, for
Ur was attacked even though it was a good city and its citizens were
pious and god-fearing. Yet here, too, in the absence of the patron god,
human virtue did not resist the onslaught of the evil demons; "the
mother did not look after her children, the father turned away from
his children, in the town, the wife was abandoned, the child was
abandoned . . ." (11. 233-5). Accordingly, the dualists, unlike the
believers in a monistic religion, did not regard misfortune and
catastrophe as a punishment for iniquity; in their opinion, the evil
gods who struck the righteous took particular delight in turning him
away from the path of virtue which the patron god had established for
his worshippers. The lamentation ends with an outlook into a better
future. Eventually, so it is hoped, the evil storms would be completely
annihilated (1. 411), and from then on mankind would live in peace
and bliss to the end of days under the Moon-god's guidance. This
vision of the Golden Age reveals another important trait of the lunar
religion: Once the lord of the evil winds was deprived of his weapons,
he was powerless and the Moon-god, therefore, was the sole and
omnipotent divine will. In other words, in the Golden Age the
dualistic religion was bound to become a monistic religion, the sole
but essential difference being that evil and sin would no longer exist
since all mankind would worship the god of Good. From time to time,
the ancients believed that the Golden Age had come or was about to
come, 1 only to be disappointed when they realized that the ideal
conditions did not last and that evil was still among them.

1 One such period of expectation must have fallen into the time of the
First Dynasty of Babylon. As was intimated above, p. 149 note 1, the IRRA
legend leaves no doubt that the religion of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon,
was, at a certain time, a dualistic religion. Yet in later periods of Babylonian
history, this religion had become monistic, for then it was Marduk alone who
sent both Good and Evil to his people. The time when Marduk was assumed to
have overcome the gods of evil for ever is reflected in Enuma Elis, the epic deal-
ing with Marduk's fight against an evil female demon, Tiamat, whom he was
assumed to have slain. Another period in which the coming of the Golden Age
was believed to be imminent, at least in so far as the Moon-worshippers were
concerned, was the time when Nabu-na'id, after his ten-year stay at Tema,
returned to Babylon. His text H 2, which was written at that time, clearly
reflects this idea. All the deities, including Nergal, the arch-enemy, were
assumed to carry out the command of Sin (see, e.g., col. II, 11. If.: "At the
command of Sin, Nergal shattered their [i.e. the enemies'] weapons"). All the
kings who had formerly been hostile sent messengers to Babylon asking for
reconciliation and good relations; and even the people of his own land who had
rebelled against his religious reforms became, under the Moon-god's influence,

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

151

III. The Harrdnians' Ideas about Life after Death

The belief that the evil god and his helpers had their home in the
interior of the earth 1 led the Moon-worshippers to a peculiar fear of
contact with the earth. 2 Contact with the earth was assumed to be
particularly dangerous at the time of a person's death, when his soul
departed from his body; for it was then that it could be seized by the
evil spirits and taken to the Netherworld. 3 This idea becomes
apparent from a passage in an inscription of the Assyrian king,
Assur-ban-apli. When speaking of his arch-enemy, the king of Elam,
he remarks: "By an evil death they (i.e., the great gods) destroyed his
soul, committed him to the Land of No Return". 4 In much the same
manner, a "destructive" or "deleterious" death (fin 1 ? ma) was one of
the imprecations upon those who would desecrate the sepulcher of
two priests of the Moon-god whose funerary inscriptions, together
with the sarcophagus in which they were laid to rest, were found in
the vicinity of the town of Nerab in Northern Syria. 5 A first indication

"true in word and in heart" (col. II, 1.7). When this dream ended after a few
short years, the Harranians obviously reverted to their dualistic religion which
they continued to practice until the Middle Ages.

1 In the lamentation over THE destruction OF ur there is an allusion to
this belief. In 1. Ill, Ningal, in her song of mourning over the destruction of her
city, tells the storm to "return to the steppe", "steppe" being a term frequently
used as a euphemism for the lower world.

a As was pointed out in pp. 65f. of our afore-quoted study "The Baby-
lonian Background of the Kay Kdiis Legend", the early worshippers of the Moon
were not farmers who tilled the soil but Aramaean and proto-Aramaean nomads
who roamed the Syro-Arabian desert.

3 By so doing, the evil spirits prevented the deceased person's soul from
ascending to the realm of the stars. As was observed on p. 93 of our afore-quoted
study, the worshippers of the heavenly bodies expected their souls after their
death to ascend to heaven and be united with their god. That other Western
Semites had similar ideas can be inferred from the so-called hadad inscription
left by king Panammu of Sam'al and Ia'di, one of the Aramaean vassals of
Tukulti-apil-esarra III of Assyria. Panammu advised his successor to present a
sacrifice to the god Hadad when he took possession of his father's throne, and to
pray "that Panammu's soul might eat with Hadad and that Panammu's soul
might drink with Hadad". (Transliteration and translation of the text are
found, inter alia, in Cooke, A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, Oxford,
1903, pp. 159ff., No. 61. Cf. M. Lidzbarski, Handbuch der nordsemitischen
Epigraphik nebst ausgeivahlten Inschriften, Weimar, 1898, pp. 440ff.)

"See the text K.2867 + Ki.l904-10-9,11 (published by Th. Bauer, Das
Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals, Leipzig, 1933, I, pi. 31; II, p. 87), edge, 1. a.

5 See Cooke, op. cit., Nos. 64f.; on the circumstances in which the stele was
discovered see below, p. 155 with note 1.

Itj2 A LOCUST S LEG

as to the death considered "evil" or "destructive" is contained in
Assur-ban-apli's annals in a passage dealing with the fate of some of
the king's defeated adversaries. With regard to those on whom he had
mercy he uses the expression balat napistisunu aqbi, "I granted (lit.,
"I commanded") the life of their souls". 1 Previously, however, he
referred to enemies who had been put to the sword or died from
starvation, it being implied that their souls had not been saved. It is,
therefore, apparent that these two ways of dying were assumed to
destroy the soul. A more extensive list of "evil deaths" is contained in
a further passage of Assur-ban-apli's annals. Here he reports that, on
the eve of an important military expedition, he had requested an
oracle from a priest of the Moon-god. The priest beheld a dream-
vision in the course of which he received the following answer: 2

1 See the so-called rassam cylinder, col. IV, 1. 95 (M. Streck, Asmrbanipd
und die letzten assyrischen Konige, II, Leipzig, 1916, p. 40), and cf. ibidem,
col. II, 1. 8.

2 In his dream, the priest saw the Moon-god's statue on the pedestal of
which he read the answer to his inquiry. The priest obviously did not expect to
see the Moon-god himself, because, in the opinion of his worshippers, this deity
was too high and too sublime to appear, and even less to address himself, to a
human being. Not even Nabu-na'id who, being a king, was assumed to be of
divine descent, pretended that the Moon-god had spoken to him although, in
the introductory lines of his inscription H 2, he stresses the extraordinary honor
which the deity had bestowed upon him by descending to earth so as to appear
to him in his dream. According to Nabu-na'id's afore-quoted inscription No. 1
(see above, p. 141, note 5), the actual message which the Moon-god wished to
convey to him was transmitted by Marduk; as the latter deity was revered as the
special protector of building operations, it was logical that it was he who acted as
the mediator informing Nabu-na'id of the supreme god's order to rebuild
Ehulhul, the temple of Sin at Harran. From as-Sahristani (op. cit., II, p. 244)
and ad-Dimisqi (op. cit., p. 47) it is learned that these ideas were preserved in the
doctrine of the medieval Harranians; for these authors credit the Harranians
with the belief that, owing to the supreme god's unfathomable character,
communication between him and a human worshipper had to go through the
medium of a lower deity. The only exceptions to this rule appear to have been the
entu-priestesses who, as described by Herodotus (1.181 f.), were assumed to
have been visited by the god when they slept in the sacred chamber on the
summit of the temple towers. As we hope to show in a forthcoming article,
Nabu-na'id's mother, even as subsequently his daughter, appears to have been,
in her earlier years, one of these priestesses.

For the reasons outlined, we cannot agree with Gadd, loc. cit., p. 74, note 2,
who sees a contradiction between Nabu-na'id's text No. 1 where Marduk
transmitted the order to rebuild Ehulhul and col. II of the funerary inscription
of Nabu-na'id's mother according to which Ehulhul was rebuilt at the command
of Sin. Gadd thinks that the introduction of Marduk in text No. 1 was "for the
benefit of the Babylonians", "reducing the Moon-god to a mere spectator". Yet

zoroastrianism and harran 153

"Those who plan evil, undertake hostility against Assur-ban-apli, the
king of Assyria, I shall present with an evil death: With an iron dagger,
(in) a blazing abyss of fire, 1 (through) famine, (through) pestilence I
shall finish off their souls". The reason why death by the sword was
considered the worst fate that could befall a person can be inferred
from two biblical passages (Deut. 12.23 and Lev.17.14) which make it
clear that, in the opinion of the ancient Semites, the blood was the
carrier of the soul. 2 That this view was shared by the worshippers of
the heavenly bodies follows, inter alia, from the threat in Hammu-
rapi's Code of Laws that he who would violate the laws would have
"his soul poured out like water". 3 In much the same manner, an
Assyrian religious text 4 threatens: "Whosoever steals this tablet, may
the god Nabu . . . pour out his soul like water" (napsassu kima me
litbuk). It thus becomes apparent that if, in death, a person's blood ran
into the earth, his soul was assumed to fall victim to the evil spirits
who retained it in the Netherworld, "The Land of No Return", thus
preventing it from ascending to heaven and living for ever with its

Nabu-na'id is not known to have, at any time of his career, made any con-
cessions to the "taste of the Babylonian readers". In fact, his refusal to make any
concessions to the Babylonians prompted the Babylonian priesthood to call on
Cyrus in order to deliver them from their own king. Moreover, there is no
evidence that the text No. 1 was destined to be read in the city of Babylon. As it
is the only one of Nabu-na'id's extant inscriptions in which he introduces
himself with all the titles customary among the Neo-Assyrian kings but not used
in Babylonia (cf. our pertinent remarks on p. 75 of the "The Babylonian Back-
ground of the Kay Kails Legend"), this text obviously was intended for readers of
the former Assyrian orbit rather than for the people of Babylon.

1 (Ina) ha-an-li mi-qit girri (see col. Ill, 1. 125 of the rassam cylinder).
A comparison of this passage with the parallel report in col. IV, 11. 51ff. and
57ff. relating to the suicide of Samas-sum-ukin in the flames of beleaguered
Babylon makes it likely that hanti is stressed and belongs to miqit girri and not to
the preceding patar parzilli as assumed by Streck, loc. cit., and in vol. 6, p. 71b
s.v. hamtu B of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. (In fact, a "sword" or "dagger"
is less likely to be qualified as "flaming" or "blazing" than a conflagration.) The
mention of Samas-sum-ukin seeking a voluntary death in the flames makes it at
the same time impossible to render miqit girri in our context by "fever" (as does
Streck, op. cit., p. 33, note 6) or "flash of lightning"; for it is obvious that
Ai=sur-ban-apli's annals would not relate first the prophecy and then the actual
outcome of the campaign against Samas-sum-ukin to which it referred if the
prophecy had not come true in every detail.

3 By eating a slaughtered animal's blood together with its flesh one was
assumed to consume its soul.

3 Tabdk napistisu kima me; see rev., col. XXVI, 11. 93f.

1 See Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religib'sen Inhalts, No. 203;
G. OfFner, Revue d'Assyriologie, XLIV, 1950, p. 137.

154 A LOCUSTS LEG

god. It was, therefore, logical for Samas-sum-ukin, Assur-ban-apli's
unfaithful brother, and others who were threatened by execution 1 to
annihilate their souls by burning their blood together with their
bodies rather than face the prospect of being delivered for ever to the
evil spirits.

It stands to reason that the ideas about the dead or dying person's
blood coming into contact with the earth made it impossible for the
worshippers of the heavenly bodies and particularly of the Moon to
bury their dead in the ground as did the Babylonians who worshipped
other gods. In fact, in the early years of the second millennium B.C.,
the sedentary Babylonians contemptuously described certain nomads
as those who, after their death, were not buried, 2 a statement which
is pertinent since, as was recalled before, 3 the religion of the Moon
originated among the tribes of the desert. It is equally obvious that, in
view of the horror with which the sedentary Babylonians speak of
the dead "whom no grave covereth, who lie uncovered, whose head is
not covered with dust", 4 the nomads were compelled to modify
their funerary customs when they settled in the civilized regions of
the Fertile Crescent. Yet there is evidence to show that even centuries
after the nomadic tribes were settled, their final resting places were
adapted to the idea that the soul of the deceased had to be protected
from the evil spirits. We refer in the first place to the afore-mentioned
funereal installation at the village of Nerab in Northern Syria, where
archaeologists discovered an artificial hill built from soil gathered in

1 This applies to Zimri, king of Israel, who is said in the Bible to have
hurled himself into the flames of his palace when his enemy, Omri, was on the
point of capturing his capital city (see I Kings 16.19). Greek sources attribute a
similar death to Samas-sum-ukin's nephew, king Sin-sarra-iskun of Assyria,
who is said to have set fire to the citadel of Nineveh and burnt himself to death
when he realized that any further resistance of beleaguered Nineveh had become
hopeless. See Schnabel, Berossos, Leipzig and Berlin, 1923, p. 271, fragments 48
and 48", where Sin-sarra-iskun figures as Sarakos.

2 See E. Chiera, Sumerian Epics and Myths, Chicago, 1934, No. 58,
col. IV, 1. 29. Cf. Falkenstein, Compte Rendu de la seconde Rencontre Assyrio-
logique Internationale, Paris, 1951, p. 17.

3 See above, p 151, note 2.

1 See col. II, 11. 9-11 of the Sumerian incantation K.156 + K.246 pub-
lished by Haupt, Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte, Leipzig, 1881,
pp. 82ff., No. 11; for a translation of the relevant passage see Thompson,
p. XXXI of the work quoted above, p. 146, note 5. Cf. tablet XII, 11. 151f. of
the epic of gilgames: "He whose corpse lieth in the steppe (ina siri) ... his
spirit resteth not in the earth".

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN 1 55

the environs of the town. 1 On what had once been the summit of the
artificial hill, a sarcophagus of basalt-stone was resting on a layer of
gravel. The sarcophagus which had originally been covered by a lid of
basalt fastened to the lower part with lead plugs contained the
skeletons of two men. Not far from the sarcophagus, two steles hewn
in the same basalt were standing upright, on a level with the sarco-
phagus. The two steles, one of which was quoted previously, 2
identified the two persons resting in the sarcophagus as two priests of
the Moon-god Sin. The artificial hill and even more so the heavy
stone of the casket as well as the layer of gravel obviously served the
purpose of separating the dead bodies from the earth, the seat of the
evil spirits and, at the same time, bringing them as close as possible to
the heavenly habitation of the Moon-god whom the priests obviously
had hoped to join after their death.

A different type of funereal installation reflecting, however, the
same idea as that of Nerab was observed by explorers near the oasis
of Tema, in Northern Arabia. Although only one inscribed monu-
ment is known from this site as yet, the evidence is sufficient to show
that that town was a center of Moon-worship, 3 and the sepulchers in
question must, therefore, be included in the present discussion. The
cemetery, which is located at some distance from both the ancient and

1 See Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, Studes d'Archeologie Orientate, II, Paris,
1897, p. 184.

2 See above, p. 151 with note 5.

3 As early as 1930, Dougherty {Am. Journal of Archaeology, XXXIV, 1930,
p. 307) called attention to the fact that the lower register of the so-called Tema-
Stele shows a worshipper standing before an altar surmounted by the head of a
bull, the symbol of the Moon-god in South-Arabia. J. Lewy, who discussed this
evidence in 1946 (Hebrezo Union College Annual, XIX, 1946, p. 447) added to
this both literary and monumental examples from Babylonia of the Moon-god
being invoked as a bull. Cf. also the name d Rhn- d Sin which identifies Sin with
the god Rim, "Wild Bull"; the latter deity's name appears, among the West
Semitic population of Mesopotamia, as theophorous element in names such as
I-din- d Ri-im (see the tablet AO.4656 published by Thureau-Dangin, Lettres et
Contrats de la Premiere Dynastie Babylonienne, Paris, 1910, No. 238, 1. 16). That
the Moon-cult in the oasis-town of Tema is at least as old as the time of Nabu-
na'id can be inferred from the fact that, according to the so-called "verse
account of nabonidus" (see S. Smith, Babylonian Historical Texts, London,
1924, pp. 27-97 and plates V-X), the king of Babylon used his stay at Tema to
reconstruct the city and to provide it with a royal palace like that of Babylon (cf.
the translation of the passage by B. Landsberger and Th. Bauer, Zeitschriftfur
Assyriologie, XXXVII, 1925, p. 91). It goes without saying that if Nabu-na'id
built a palace at TemS and resided there for ten years, the town must have had a
Moon-temple in which he could worship his god.

156

A LOCUST S LEG

the modern town of Tema, is covered at irregular intervals by round
tumuli built of stone and sand. On the summit of these hillocks, some
of which reach a height of 3 meters, there were remnants of a funereal
chamber measuring about 2 by H meters. All around the slopes of the
tumuli were layers of stone which, to all appearances, were intended
as steps facilitating the access to the funereal chamber. 1

Although archaeological investigation in Assyria proper has not
as yet revealed any evidence as to the sepulchers of the last six
Assyrian kings who were particularly devoted to the cult of the
Moon, 2 we shall not fail in assuming that, when Assur-ban-apli built
for himself a mausoleum in the city of Assur, 3 this structure reflected
the same ideas as the resting places of the priests of Nerab and of the
ancient people of Tema.

IV. How did the Iranians get acquainted with the Religion of Harrdn?

It will be noted that several of the features of the Harranian religion
briefly described in the preceding pages have their parallel in the
Zoroastrian religion as known from Greek sources and as practised
under the Arsacids and the Sassanians. As is well known, Zoroas-
trianism, too, was a dualistic religion in which Hormuzd, the god of
light, was the creator and preserver of all that is good and beautiful,
whereas Ahriman represented the evil principle. These two deities,
too, were conceived as twin-brothers, their father, Zurvan, or
"Chronos", thus corresponding to Enlil, the father of Sin and Nergal.
Like their counterparts in the lunar religion, the Zoroastrian gods of
good and evil were engaged in an unceasing fight which, it was hoped,
was to end with the eventual defeat of the evil spirits and the coming
of the Golden Age. Even the millennia-old symbol of the Moon-cult

1 See Jaussen and Savignac, Mission archeologique en Arable, II, Paris,
1914, pp. 153-5.

2 By a strange coincidence, Assur-ban-apli was, so far as is known, the
only one among these kings who died a natural death from old age. Sargon, as is
well known, was slain in battle; Sennacherib, his son, was murdered by one of
his sons; Esarhaddon, his successor, took sick and died during a campaign
against Egypt. Assur-ban-apli's son, Sin-sarra-iskun, is reported to have died in
the flames of his beleaguered capital city (see above, p. 154, note 1). Assur-
ban-apli's other son, Assur-etel-ilani, disappeared after a short reign, having
been killed, in all likelihood, in a fratricidal war.

3 On the mausoleum (bit kimahhi) which Assur-ban-apli built in the city
of Assur before ascending the throne, see Weidner, Archiv fiir Orientforschung,
XIII, 1939-41, pp. 213ff. and Ebeling, Stiftungen und Vorschriften fiir assyrische
Tempel, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, No. 23, 1954, p. 18.

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN 1 57

and of the city of Harran, 1 viz., the crescent including between its
horns a star, occurs not infrequently on gems from the Sassanian
period. 2

Like the Moon-worshippers, the Zoroastrians believed in the
existence of a human soul as distinct from the body. They, too,
assumed that a pious person's spirit survived his physical death; and,
as Pehlevi texts refer to this life after death as "the best existence", 3
they, too, appear to have assumed that the soul would ascend to
heaven and be for ever in the presence of its god. Much as the Moon-
worshippers, the Zoroastrians believed that the eternal life of their
souls was endangered by contact of a dead body with the earth, the
seat of the evil spirits; accordingly, they, too, did not bury their dead
but deposited them either on a natural elevation or, as do the present-
day Parsees, on the summit of a funereal tower. 4

Space does not permit to discuss in detail any further features
common to the Moon-cult and the Sassanian state religion. Suffice it
to mention that the concept of the divine origin of human kings
which, as was shown elsewhere, 6 is a characteristic trait of the
religion of the heavenly bodies, is clearly traceable in the inscriptions
of the Sassanian kings. 6 Finally, attention must be called to a pecu-
liarity of the Sassanian calendar which is paralleled by a habit of the
Neo-Assyrian Moon-worshippers. As is well known, not only all the
months of the Sassanian calendar (except for the first), but also the
thirty days of the months bear the name of a deity, the first being
called Hormuzd for the god of the good principle. In Assur-ban-apli's

1 See, e.g., the references quoted above, p. 142, note 4.

2 See, e.g., A. Mordtmann, Studien fiber geschnittene Sterne mit Pehlevi
Inschriften, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, XVIII, 1864,
pi. I, No. 61 and p. 25; pi. II, No. 143 and p. 41; pi. I, No. 28; pi. Ill, Nos. 92,
102, and 154; pi. IV, No. 49..

3 See, e.g., denkart, Book VII, chapter V.l (West, The Sacred Books of the
East, XXXVII, Oxford, 1892, Pahlavi Texts, part IV, p. 73); chapter VI. 1
(ibidem, p. 77).

4 See J. Darmesteter, Le Zend-Avesta, II, Paris, 1892, pp. 155ff.

5 The Babylonian Background of the Kay Kdus Legend, pp. 78f.

6 See, e.g., the legend inscribed on the relief of Sapur II at the Taq-i-
Bustan (published in facsimile, transliteration, and translation by Herzfeld,
Am Tor von Asien, Berlin, 1920, p. 67): "This is the image of the Mazda-
worshipping god Sapur, king of kings of Iran and Aniran, who is a scion of the
gods, the son of the Mazda-worshipping god Hormuzd, king of kings of Iran
and Aniran, who is a scion of the gods, the grandson of the god Narseh, king of
Icings".

158 a locust's leg

inscriptions, there occur formulae such as these: "In the month of
Aiaru, the month of Ea, the lord of mankind, on the twelfth day, a
favorable day, (the day of) the food-offering of Gula"; 1 "in the
month of Simanu, the month of Sin, the foremost and prime son of
Enlil, on the 25th day, (the day of) the procession of the divine lady of
Babylon"; 2 "in the month of Abu, the month of the bow-star, the
heroic daughter of Sin, on the 3rd day, (the day of) the vigil for the
king of the gods, Marduk"; 3 "in the month of Ululu, (the month of)
the service of Istar, on the feast of the sublime Assur". 4

When trying to determine the period during which the beliefs
and practices of the Moon-worshippers became known to the Iranians,
it is not without interest to notice that the massive rock-graves of
Darius I and his immediate successors betray no relationship to the
sepulchers of the worshippers of the Moon. Nor do these kings
appear to have been acquainted with the notion of the divine origin of
earthly kings; their names as well as those of their defunct ancestors
are always preceded, in their inscriptions, by the determinative
characterizing them as ordinary human males. Likewise, the dates
appearing in their texts simply number the days instead of naming
them for a deity. The divine emblem appearing on their reliefs is not
the lunar crescent but the winged solar disk which they, to all appear-
ances, took over from the well-known emblem of the god Assur.

There is, however, one Achaemenian king whose sepulcher
differs conspicuously from those of Darius I and his successors: It is
the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae which consists of a stage tower of six
steps crowned by a tomb chamber. According to Arrian's descrip-
tion, 6 the king's body rested in a golden coffin within this lofty
funereal chamber. Being built, according to Herzfeld, 6 with a
Babylonian stage-tower in mind, this structure is obviously influenced
by the ideas of the lunar religion. 7 Equally significant is Herzfeld's

1 See col. I, 11. llf. of the hassam cylinder.

2 See ibidem, col. VIII, 11. 96ff. Cf. the parallel passage of the text K.2802,
col. VI, 11. 17ff. (Streck, op. tit., II, p. 204).

3 See col. IX, 11. 9ff. of the rassam cylinder.
1 See cylinder B, col. V, 11. 77f.

5 ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER, VI. 29.

Archaeologische Mitteilungen ems Iran, I, Berlin, 1929-30, pp. 8-10.

7 A structure named Gur-i-Dukhtar, "The Daughter's Tomb", which
bears a considerable resemblance to the tomb of Cyrus was recently discovered
by Professor Vanden Berghe in the plain of Buzpar, in the province of Fars.
A description of the structure which Professor Vanden Berghe discussed in a

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

159

observation that also a temple discovered by him at Pasargadae shows
affinities to the Assyro-Babylonian stage-towers and thus differs con-
spicuously from the places of worship of Cyrus' successors. Since, as
the present writer pointed out elsewhere, 1 the stage-towers were an
indispensable implement of the worship of the heavenly bodies,
serving as both observatory and place of contact between a human
being and his god, the two structures at Pasargadae suggest that it was
under Cyrus that the religious concepts of the Moon-cult were first
propagated in Iran. At first approach this conclusion appears to be
incompatible with Cyrus' well-known inscription, the so-called
"Proclamation to the Babylonians"; for there it is stated that Cyrus
conquered Babylonia on orders of Marduk, the god of Babylon, who
entrusted him with the rule over the world and led him into his holy
city so that he might put an end to the reign of Nabu-na'id, the king
who placed the Moon-god above all other deities, including Marduk.
Yet the excavations at Ur have furnished evidence to indicate that
Cyrus changed his religious policy some time after the conquest of
Babylonia. Whereas in his first onslaught his soldiery destroyed all the
buildings in the sacred area of Ur which Nabu-na'id had erected, 2 he
subsequently restored at least some of the temples and returned them
to their former use. 3

Even more significant is the wording of a fragmentary cylinder
inscription of Cyrus found at Ur 4 which contains this statement:
"Sin, the illuminator of heaven and earth, under a favorable omen,

lecture at the Rencontre Assyriologique in Paris, on June 23, 1961, will, as he
kindly informs me, be published in the first issue of the new periodical Iranica
Antiqua.

1 The Babylonian Background of the Kay Kails Legend, pp. 87ff.

2 See, especially, col. VI, 11. 17ff. of the verse account (cf. above, p. 155,
note 3).

2 See C. J. Gadd, History and Monuments of Ur, pp. 250f. However, the
assumption of Gadd that the restoration served the purpose of receiving the
Moon-god's statue after its return from Babylon whither it allegedly had been
brought by Nabu-na'id is contradicted by col. Ill, 1. 21 of the nabonidus
chronicle (Smith, op. cit., pp. 98-123 and pi. XI-XIV), from which it follows
that the return of the deities which Nabu-na'id had taken to Babylon took place
a few months after Cyrus had conquered Babylon. At that time the temples
which had been razed to the ground could not have been rebuilt. Moreover,
there is no evidence that the statue of the Moon-god was taken from Ur to
Babylon; in the enumeration of the deities that came to Babylon (col. Ill of the
chronicle) this deity is not mentioned.

4 See C. J. Gadd and L. Legrain, Royal Inscriptions, Ur Excavations,
Texts, I, London and Philadelphia, 1928, No. 307, p. 96.

i6o

A LOCUST S LEG

delivered into my hands the four quarters of the world". In other
words, Cyrus here credits the Moon-god Sin with having delivered to
him the realm formerly ruled by Nabu-na'id, whereas in the Procla-
mation he attributed his success to the guidance of Marduk. In
addition, the reference to the omen suggests that he belatedly con-
sulted the astronomers with respect to the horoscope at the time of his
campaign against Nabu-na'id.

Perplexing as it might appear at first sight that the victorious
Cyrus should have embraced the religion the principal propagator of
which was the vanquished Nabu-na'id, the possible reasons for this
conversion can be gleaned from the extant sources. From col. V,
11. 4-7 of the "verse account" combined with col. I, 1. 42 of Nabu-
na'id's inscription H 2 from Harran it can be inferred that, during
Nabu-na'id's ten-year stay at Tema, hostilities between him and
Cyrus had occurred. 1 Both passages make it clear, on the other hand,
that this incident had been settled to Nabu-na'id's entire satisfaction
and that "reconciliation and goodwill" prevailed. 2 In other words, it
is apparent that a peace treaty had been concluded between the two
kings, and that Cyrus had broken this treaty when he attacked
Babylonia in Nabu-na'id's seventeenth year. Since the Iranian
religions no less than those of the Semites condemn the violation of a
solemn agreement, the aggressor had to fear henceforth the wrath and
the retaliation of all the deities of both contracting parties who had
been called upon in the treaty, as was customary in the ancient Near
East, to punish the violator. Foremost among the deities offended by
Cyrus' breach of faith was, of course, Nabu-na'id's supreme god, Sin.
And the Aramaeans of Babylonia who were the main supporters of
Nabu-na'id could not fail to ascribe every misfortune that befell the

1 Col. II, 11. 15f. of the chronicle suggest that these hostilities took place
in Nabu-na'id's ninth regnal year and were connected with Cyrus' campaign
against Lydia; for as the king of Persia is said to have negotiated the Tigris River
below Arbela and proceeded from there to western Asia Minor, he could hardly
fail to march through Babylonian territory. The fact that, according to Hero-
dotus (1.77), the king of Lydia sent emissaries to Babylon to ask for Nabu-na'id's
help against Cyrus may also point to tension between the two rulers.

2 In col. 1, 11. 38ff. of his inscription H 2, Nabu-na'id lists Media among the
countries and peoples whose rulers "(formerly) hostile" sent embassies to him
asking for "reconciliation and goodwill". That sulummii means "reconciliation"
was first pointed out by J. Lewy, Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-Aegyptischen
Gesellschaft, 29, 1924, 2, p. 83, sub Z.29. See now also E. Weidner, Die In-
schriften Tukidti-Ninurtas I. und seiner Nachfolger, Graz, 1959, p. 41, ad No. 36.

ZOROASTRIANISM AND HARRAN

l6l

Persians in the months and years after the conquest of Babylon to the
vengeance of Sin. That misfortunes actually began to occur shortly
after Cyrus' entry into Babylonia is related in the chronicle. First,
Ugbaru, the commander of the troops which had seized the capital,
died suddenly (col. Ill, 1. 22). A few months later, the king's spouse
died (col. Ill, 1. 23). Further threatening events were related in the
fragmentary col. IV of the Chronicle which possibly referred to the
fact that, not even one year after having appointed his son Cambyses
viceroy of Babylonia, Cyrus was compelled to recall him. 1 Thus the
only way left open to Cyrus of avoiding a continuous series of catas-
trophes was to seek Nabu-na'id's help and advice upon the means by
which the offended Moon-god could be appeased. That a reconcilia-
tion between Cyrus and Nabu-na'id actually took place can be
inferred from the report of Berossos that Nabu-na'id was appointed
by Cyrus to rule over the Iranian province of Carmania. 2 Once
established in Iran, the fanatical worshipper of the Moon-god and
offspring of Harran who possessed all the learning and wisdom of his
time could hardly fail to impress his ideas on his new subjects.

1 Evidence to this effect is provided by the date formulae of the con-
temporary Babylonian contract tablets; for the details and references see Kugler,
Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, II, Minister, 1909/10, pp. 397ff. and more
recently Dubberstein in American Journal of Semitic Languages, LV, 1938,
pp. 417-19.

2 See Schnabel, Berossos, p. 274, fragments 53 and 54.

A KURDISH CREED

By D. N. MACKENZIE

Kurdish poets of the seventeenth century and earlier, Ahmade Xani'
Malae Jizri, Mala Ahmade Bate and others, wrote in a Kurdish which
may be called "North-eastern". This was a literary language bearing
a heavy load of Arabic and Persian vocabulary, but still recognizable as
basically the Kurdish of Bohtan and Hakari and the regions lying to the
north. But little information about the separate dialects of these regions
can be culled from the literary sources. For the first prose "dialect"
Kurdish text we must wait until the beginning of the nineteenth
century. As it is a comparatively short text its reproduction in full may
not be without interest. That it is here dedicated to H. E. Seyyid Hasan
Taqizadeh must, I regret, do it greater honour than it can impart.

In one manuscript of the Nitbdr and 'Aqdid of Ahmade Xani,
published in facsimile by A. von Le Coq, 1 the last four folios are filled
by a prose text entitled Ft bayard arkani l-isldm. It is written in the
same hand, and as liberally and ambiguously vowelled, as the pre-
ceding poems, but there is nothing concrete to connect it with
Ahmade Xani beyond the similarity of language. We are on firmer
ground, however, with a similar work published soon after. This is the
Xuldsa-y 'aqdid by Sex 'Abdullah of Nahrl, Samdinan. 2

Sex 'Abdullah was one of the celebrated Sayyids of Nahri
descended from Sex 'Abdul'Aziz, son of Sex 'AbdulQadir Gilani. 3
One of the disciples who acquired the Qadirl Path from him was a
certain Mala Xalid (b. 1779) of Sarazur, later to acquire fame as
Mawlana Xalid, "a personage of great importance in the history of
the dervish orders for it was he who first introduced the Naqshbandi
Path into Southern Kurdistan". 4 Sex 'Abdullah, with many other

1 Kurdische Texte, Erster Teil, Anhang 1, Berlin, 1903.

2 Published by Ahmad Ramiz, Istanbul, 1911, 32 pp. For my knowledge,
and the loan, of this pamphlet I have to thank Professor W. B. Henning.

3 B. P. Nikitine, Les Kurdes, Paris, 1956, p. 212.

1 C. J. Edmonds, Kurds, Turks and Arabs, London, 1957, p. 77.

162

A KURDISH CREED 1 63

Qadirl teachers, later became a disciple of his own former pupil and,
having accepted the Naqsbandi Path from him, returned to Nahri to
propagate it. After his death his nephew and successor, Sayyid Taha I,
also received his licence to teach from Mawlana Xalid. Since Xalid
only taught at Suleimaniye from about 1808 until his final departure
in 1820 1 we may assume that Sex 'Abdullah died shortly after 1810.
As there is no indication in his Xuldsa of when it was composed we are
at liberty to date it about the year 1800.

In 1911 the great-grandson of Taha I, Sayyid Taha II, had a fair
copy of the work made by one 'Umar ibn Jarjis, a teacher at the takya
of Nahri, and sent it to Ahmad Ramiz for him to publish. 2

When the Xuldsa is compared with the text in Le Coq's manu-
script the close connexion between them becomes obvious. If we
suppose the text in the manuscript to be the work of Ahmade Xani, or
to have been generally attributed to him, then it will have had con-
siderable currency, and is the more likely to have been Sex 'Abdullah's
direct model. His purpose in paraphrasing it was evidently to make its
contents more immediately comprehensible to those in his cure, and
this we may suppose he did by "translating" it into the vernacular
Kurdish of Nahri itself.

Fortunately confirmation of this hypothesis lies at hand. During
his tenure of the Russian consulship at Urmiye, in the First World
War, the late Basile Nikitine enjoyed the services of one Mala
Sa'id inter alia as teacher of Kurdish. The mullah was a native of
Nahri and had previously been a teacher at the takya there in the time
of Sex Muhammad Siddiq, father of Sayyid Taha II. 3 He wrote for
his new pupil a number of texts in his mother tongue, of which a few
examples have since appeared in print. 4 These two sources for the

1 Edmonds, op. cit., pp. 72, 77.

2 In print the date of the colophon is given as "14th Muharram 339 =
3rd Kanunu sani 326", but as Ramiz states (p. 28) that five years had passed
since his first publication (viz. Maiolidd kurdi, Egypt, 1 906) this evidently con-
tains at least one misprint, and should probably read "14th Muharram (1)329 ==
3rd Kanunu sani (1)326" [= 16th January 1911], assuming the Muharram date
to differ by one day from the tables.

3 See "Kurdish stories from my collection", BSOS, 4, 121, and "The tale
of Suto and Tato", BSOS, 3, 76.

4 Beside those mentioned above, "Une Apologie Kurde du Sunnisme",
Rocznik Orjentalistyczny, 8, 116. M. Nikitine also very kindly placed all the
surviving MSS. of Mala Sa'Id's texts at my disposal and these are now nearly
ready for publication, in transcription, with translation.

164 a locust's leg

study of the dialect of Nahrl, separated by more than a century,
supplement and confirm each other.

A justification of the transcription used for the text below must
be reserved for another occasion. Suffice it to say that the dialect
differs but little from that of Akre, in Northern Iraq. 1 It belongs to
the group in which o, u have become u, u (here written 6, u) respec-
tively. Yet it does not appear to have the phoneme v found in other
Northern dialects. The letter v occurs only once in the text, perhaps as
an inadvertent borrowing from the original. It is noteworthy that the
writer began with a phonetic representation of the modal prefix in
t-dam, na-t-dd, yet used the Persian spelling <ua for harm and omitted
the Izafe form -z. Later he reverted to the traditional spelling of the
prefix in di-kat, di-niwisit, etc., and wrote the Izafe more consistently.

In their "secondary" forms, i.e. those following the indefinite
suffix -ah, the oblique case endings and the Izafe appear as t£ for both
genders. This is reminiscent of the Zakho dialect, which has obi. -e
and Izafe -z in these contexts. There is evidence from other texts,
however, to support my interpretation of this <£ as -f in all cases,
though elaboration of it is precluded here.

There remains but one puzzle. Is it simply coincidence that in
both texts, in the sentence fukne cdrdn (MS. care) bdzvirid bi peyam-
baran-a, the preposition bi is omitted?

Text 2

Xulasa-y 'aqaid<T> islamia bi lisdne kurdi, asard sex sayyid 'abdulldh

afandi samdini, quddisa sirruhu, . . .

Bismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahim.
Bizdna fuknet islame penj-in. fukne awwil kalime sahddat-a.

ashadu — az sdhidie tdam

an la ilaha — kS ninin cu ma'bddak^iy di

illa-llaha — yayr^iy zatak^y pdk, be-misl, azali 6 abadi, muta-
hayyir-in di fikra wi-da hami a maxlSq, ndwe wi alldh, ma'b6de
bi-haq; har aw-a, hayid wi liar bi x6-ya, hayid hindi maxlSqd bi
wi-a; xdliq 6 hdkime hamidn-a; hand 'dlam muhtdf'Ciy wi-a, aw
muhtdj^iy kas nia, fa'ilak^jy muxtdr-a; be jfi° 6 be makdn-a, li

1 Described in my Kurdish Dialect Studies I, London, 1961.

2 Underlined letters represent separate, emphatic, phonemes, s, z, with
subscript dots, represent Ar. o J respectively, not different from s, z in
Kurdish.

A KURDISH CREED

165

harm jidn hdzir-a, Mi fdhe niziktiri mird-ya; te-dd liana kind!
sifatet kamdle, Si sifatet wi haft sifat qadim-in — haydt-a, 'ilm-a,
irada-ya, qndrat-a, bihistin-a, ditin-a, takallum-a — aw sifata
azali-na, zi zdte xudejudd ndbin; pdk-a zi hami 'ayb 6 kemdsidn;

wa ashadu — az we sdhidie zi tdam

anna muhammadan — ko muhammade 'arabi, quraysi, hdsimi, cdzv-fas,
biro-fa-kisydy, ani-gusdd, sikl sdr 6 sipi 6 ndrdni, sdrat waki
dynay<ay c saffdf ko dar 6 diiodr te-fa diydr, mahbobtir zi hami
awlade adorn; baznd 101 tamdm li bar tdwe sebar natdd arzi; li
makke bi walad hdti, li we boya peyambar; zi bar kdfiran cSya
madine, li wemutawafd boya wa hdtia wa-sdrin; ndwebabi 'abdulldh
hire ' abdulmuttalibe hire hasime hire 'abdulmandf, ndwe dde dmina
hcd ivahbe zuhray;

rasulu-llahi — qdside xude-ya li sar fin 6 insdndn, kofid haq nisd bidat 6
hukmet xude bi je binin.
fukne d6 y e kirind niwezet farz-a. fukne see ddnd zakate-ya. fukne

care bi-foz<j,y bdnd famazdne-ya. fukne penje hajak-a, agar mdl habit

6 dusmin li sar re nabin.
Ruknet imane sas-in.
fukne awwil bdwirid bi xude-ya, ko zataki pdk-a, be-mid-a, azali-a,

liar waki ma goti.

fukne do y e bdwirid bi maldikatet xude-ya; wa jismet latif-in, di
norani 6 pdk-in; zi ndfarmdnid xude 6 zi xazoe 6 zi x w drinepdk 6 tamiz-
in; zi hindi maxloqi pekwa bostir-in, hatd qatret bdrdne 6 tdet <igydyy
6 balget damn; har yoke malakak li sar musallat-a, bi ami xude tasafufe
te-dd dikat; kasbd d wan daim td'at-a, zi har haft tabaqet dsmdni jie
peyakinia ko malakak difuko'e-ddydn di sif de-da nabit, hindak har we
difukS'e-dd, hindak har we di sif de-da, hindak yarq-in di suhodd jamdld
xude-dd, na dgdh li 'dlami haya 6 na li ddami; yek we li sar mile ma ye
taste xayran diniwisit, yak<ey wan li sar mile ma ye cape safan diniwis-
<f> t; sarddret loan, ]ibrdil-a, wahi bo hami peyambaran wi indya, wa
isrdfil-a, nafxd sore wd-ya di dast-dd, wa mikdil-a, hukme daxl 6 dan 6
sindtiet arzi di dast-dd, wa 'izrail-a, qabzd fohdn di dast-dd; wa hama-
latu l-'ars aiv noka car-in, di qiydmate-da de Una hast, muqafab-in,
niziki dargahe xude-na; wa kafdbi-na, ko malaket 'azdbe-na, wa
fohdni-na, ko malaket fahmate-na.

fukne see bdwirid bi kitabet xude-ya; sad 6 car-in— sad hami
kdyaz-in, dah zi wan sadd ndzil bona zi bd ddami, dah zi bS ibrdhim 6

r 66 A LOCUST S LEG

sih zi b6 idrlsl 6 penjah Si bd sisi e , tawrdt ndzil boy a zi bo rndsd, injil zi
b6 'isa, zabor zi b6 dddd, qur'dn zi bo muhammad al-mustafd (salatu-
llahi wa salamuhu 'alayhi wa 'alayhim ajma'in); hami haq-in, kaldmet
xude-na, bale hukmet yet di battdl bona; hnkme qur'dne hatd axir<i>
zamdn de minit^ be kem-6-zedai.

fukne cdrdn. bdwiria <biy peyambardn-a, ko liar zamdnaki xude
insdnakipdk zi gundhdn, zi hindl xalqe 'asre xo kdmiltir, bi karamd x6
kiria peyambar; mu'fiza diini, kase quwwat-dd bardbar wi naboya; wahi
M bo hindria ko amre xude bigahinit-a ndw xalqi wa hukmet xude bi je
binin; zi hindi maxloqi pekioa faziltir-in; sad 6 bist 6 car hizdr-in, ulu
l-'azm penj-in — noli, ibrahim, mosd, 'isa, muhammad al-mustafd
(salatu-llahi wa salamuhu 'alayhi wa 'alayhim ajma'in). xuddnet
ummatan sesad 6 sezda-na, yet mashur ddam, sis, idris, noli, Md, sdlih,
ibrahim, lot, ismd'il, islidq, ya'qob, yosuf, aydb, su'ayb, mosd, hdrSn,
ydsa', ilyds, yasa', zu l-kafl, sam'dn, ismawil, yonus, ddod, sulaymdn,
zakaryd, yahya, 'aziz, jarjis, 'isa, muhammad al-mustafd (salatu-llahi
wa salamuhu 'alayhi wa 'alayhim ajma'in).

fukne penje bdwiria bi qiydmate-ya; harci peyambare ma goti zi
nisdndn — waki fd-bond niahdi 6 ndzil bdnd 'isa peyambar 6 rd-bona
dajjdl 6 ddbbatu l-arz 6 ydjuj 6 mdjiijdn-a, wa kaldtind fSze-ya zi
mayribe, wa fo-cond arzi-a, jdraki li mayribe, jdraki li masriqe, jdraki li
jazira-y 'arab, wa kemid 'Urn 6 dini-a, wa zdrid fisq 6 xiydnate-ya, wa
sarddrid bad-asldn-a — wa harci peyambare ma goti zi ivdqi'dtet hasre —
waki noka hur bond cydn-a, wa kifakif bdnd dsmdndn-a, wa tekal bon 6
hisk bdnd bahrdn-a, wafizydndsterdn-a, wa be-nor bdndfoz 6 hayzodnS
6 yayret wdn-a — hami haq-in, be-sik de qawmin. maxloq de id bin 6 de
wek kaioiii li arze same, kdyazet xayr 6 sardn de dan-a dasti, 'amal de
hen-a hisdb kirin, su'dld 'amaldn de het-a kirin, bi tardzii y e de hen-a
kesdn, cu 'amal be jazd ndbin. bi farmdnd xude pire de da nen-a sar
jihanname, bihisti de darbdz bin, cin-a sar hawza kawsare, jihannami de
zalin, kawin-a dgiri. sifd'atd misilmandn de bar kan peyambar, masdix,
sulahd. kase misilmdn abadi ndbit di 'azdb-dd h . jihannam haft tabaq-in,
wd-ya di bin arz-da; bihist hast tabaq-in, wa li sar dsmdndn-dd.

fukne sase bdwiri-a ko xayr 6 saf bi taqdird xude-na; hami haraka 6
'amulet maxloqi di azal-da nuuisi-na wa ma'lom-in li nik xude, Si awwil
hatd dxir harci wdqi' bibit de muwdfiqi we niwisine 6 ma'ldmie bit;
xdliqe 'amaldn aw-a, maxlSq sabab-a zi bo 'amalet ixtiydri, har waki
dgir sabab-a zi bd sdtine; la hawla wa la quwwata ilia bi-llahi l-'aliyi
l-'azim. tamma.

A KURDISH CREED 167

Aw-a xuldsa-y 'aqaidet islamilisar mazhabe sexe as'ari, rahimahu-
llahu ta'ala, asar^ay mubdrakd zdte fasddat-simdte marhdm sex
sayyid 'abdullah afandi^Jy nahri-a, zi bd ta'limd bicukdn 6 'awammi
ce-kiria. . . .

a .ws> throughout, but pi. 0W°* b <^- but obi. {J ~^ pi. jL^. c ^T
d L<S~ e [J Z~J; fc~i) gjU^ {i.e. l)1%a). hlJuki

Translation
A Compendium of Islamic doctrines, in the Kurdish language, by
Sheikh Seyyid Abdullah effendi of Shemdinan (hallowed be his
grave), . . .

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Know that the Pillars of Islam are five. The first Pillar is the
Confession of Faith.
(Arabic) / bear wittiess — I bear witness
that there is no god — that there are no other deities
but God — than the one holy Person, peerless, existing from all
eternity to all eternity, in contemplation of whom all creatures
are astonished, whose name is Allah the True God; there is only
He, and His being is independent, while the being of all creatures
is dependent on Him; He is the creator and governor of all; all the
universe is in need of Him, but He needs no one, and is a free
agent; He has no place and no dwelling, but is present in all
places, being nearer to man than his soul; there are in Him many
attributes of perfection, and of His attributes seven are prime —
that is, life, knowledge, will, power, hearing, sight, and speech
— these attributes exist for all eternity, and are not separate from
the person of God; He is pure of all faults and failings;
and I bear witness — and I bear this witness also

that Muhammed — that Muhammed the Arab, Qureishite, Hashimite,
of the black eyes, the slender brows, the broad forehead, the face
pink and white and luminous, the form like a lustrous mirror in
which gate and wall are visible, more lovable than all the sons of
Adam; whose figure in full sunlight would cast no shadow on the
earth; born in Mecca and there become Prophet; who went to
Medina on account of the infidels, and there passed away and was
buried; the name of his father Abdullah, son of AbdulMuttalib,
son of Hashim, son of AbdulMenaf, the name of his mother
Amina, daughter of Wahb of the Zuhra clan;

i68

A LOCUSTS LEG

is the Prophet of God — is the messenger of God to the jinn and man-
kind, who points out the right way (that) they may carry out the
commandments of God.

The second Pillar is the performance of the obligatory prayers.
The third Pillar is the giving of the prescribed alms. The fourth Pillar
is the fasting of (the month of) Ramazan. The fifth Pillar is (the
performance of) a pilgrimage (to Mecca and Medina), if one has
(sufficient) wealth and there are not enemies on the road.
The Pillars of Faith are six.

The first Pillar is belief in God, that He is a holy Person, peerless,
eternal, just as we have said.

The second Pillar is belief in God's angels; and they are delicate
bodies, luminous and pure; they are pure and innocent of disobedience
to God and of sleep and of eating; they are more abundant than all
(other) creatures together, even the drops of rain and the stalks of
grass and the leaves of trees; every (creature) has an angel set over it,
who holds sway over it by God's command; their occupation is con-
stantly worship (so that) in all the seven layers of Heaven there is not
the space of a footprint in which there is not an angel either bowing or
prostrating himself, some being always bowing, some always pros-
trating themselves, and some absorbed in bearing witness to the
beauty of God, aware neither of the world nor of (the sons of) Adam;
one is on our right shoulder recording good deeds and one of them is
on our left shoulder recording evil deeds; their leaders are Gabriel,
who brought the revelation to all the prophets, and Israfil, who is
responsible for the sounding of the last trump, and Michael, who is
responsible for the ordering of the crops and green things of the earth,
and Ezrail, who is responsible for the seizing of souls; and the bearers
of the Throne (of God) are now four, and at the Resurrection they will
be eight, and they are proximate and near to God's gate; and there are
cherubim, who are angels of punishment, and there are (other) spirits
who are angels of mercy.

The third Pillar is belief in God's books; they are one hundred
and four — one hundred are all paper, ten of these hundred came down
for Adam, ten for Abraham and thirty for Idris (Enoch) and fifty for
Seth, the Pentateuch came down for Moses, the Gospel for Jesus, the
Psalms for David, and the Koran for Muhammed, the chosen one,
may the mercy of God and His peace be upon him and upon them all;
they are all true, being the words of God, but the commandments of

A KURDISH CREED 169

the others have been abrogated; the commandments of the Koran will
remain until the end of time without addition or subtraction.

The fourth Pillar is belief in the prophets, that in every age God,
in His benevolence, has made a man, free from (all) sins and more
perfect than all the people of his time, to be a prophet; he performs
miracles and nobody has (ever) rivalled him in power; the revelation
has been sent to him that he may convey God's command to the
people and they may carry out His precepts; they are more excellent
than all creatures together; they are one hundred and twenty four
thousand (in all, but) the great ones are five— Noah, Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, and Muhammed, the chosen one, may the mercy of God
and His peace be upon him and upon them all. The leaders of com-
munities are three hundred and thirteen, the famous ones being
Adam, Seth, Idris (Enoch), Noah, Hud (Heber), Salih, Abraham,
Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Shoaib, Moses, Aaron,
Joshua, Elias, Yasa, ZulKefl, Simon, Ishmawil, Jonas, David,
Solomon, Zachariah, John, Aziz, George, Jesus, and Muhammed, the
chosen one, may the mercy of God and His peace be upon him and upon
them all.

The fifth Pillar is belief in the Resurrection; whatever our
Prophet has said of the signs — as there is the rising of the Mahdi and
the descent of Jesus the prophet and the rising of the Antichrist and
the Beast of the earth and Gog and Magog, and the coming up of the
sun from the west, and the dipping of the earth, once to the west, once
to the east, and once towards the Arabian peninsula, and the defici-
ency of knowledge and of religion, and the abundance of deviation and
of treachery, and the rule of the base-born — and whatever our
Prophet has said of the occurrences of the Resurrection — as, now,
there is the crumbling of the mountains, and the rumbling of the
heavens, and the mixing and drying of the seas, and the falling of the
stars, and the extinction of the sun and moon and the rest (of the
heavenly bodies)— all these are true and will surely come to pass. All
creatures will rise and come together in the land of Syria, and will be
given the papers (recording their) good and evil deeds, and their
actions will be accounted, and will be put to the question, and will be
weighed in the balance, and no actions will go unrequited. At God's
command they will set a bridge over Hell, and those destined for
Paradise will pass over it and go to the pool of Kausar, (while) those
destined for Hell will slip and fall into the fire. The Prophet, the

170 A LOCUST S LEG

patriarchs and the pious will intercede for the Moslems. No Moslem
will be punished eternally. There are seven layers of Hell, which is
beneath the earth; Heaven has eight layers, above the skies.

The sixth Pillar is the belief that good and evil are ordained by
God; all the movements and actions of creatures have been written
since eternity past and are known to God, and everything that may
happen, from beginning to end, will be in accordance with that
writing and that knowledge; He is the creator of actions and the
creature is the medium for the chosen actions, just as fire is the
medium for burning; there is no power and no streiigth but in God, the
High, the Mighty. Finis.

That is the Compendium of Islamic doctrines according to the
sect of Sheikh Ash'ari, may Almighty God have mercy upon him, being
the blessed work of that just person the late Sheikh Seyyid Abdullah
effendi of Nehri, made for the instruction of children and of the
commonalty.

VANIS OL-'AQILIN DE MlR QARI GlLANI

Par H. MASSE

U Anis ol-dqilin, recueil de paroles memorables et d'anecdotes en
prose agrementees de vers, fait partie d'un majmtT d'ouvrages en
langue persane, conserve a la Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris (Supple-
ment persan, n° 99, fol. 114-199). Dans sa notice sur ce manuscrit,
E. Blochet (Cat. mss. persons B.N., n° 2164) le considere comme
1'autographe de 1'auteur, Molla Mir Qari Gilani, en se fondant sur un
passage de la conclusion de 1'ouvrage, traduit ci-dessous. Mais les
nombreuses fautes d'orthographe et les omissions de mots qu'on note
en lisant ce manuscrit portent a douter qu'il soit de la main de son
auteur. Nombre d'anecdotes sont de source arabe — ce qui est prouve
par le choix du sujet et aussi par les tournures de style (ainsi rffzi az
riizha, pddshdhi az pddshdhdn, traduits litteralement de yawm min
al-aydm, malik min al-mulilk); on remarquera (2eme anecdote)
qu'al-Fadl ibn Rabi', ministre d'Harun ar-Rashid et d'al-Amln, est
inscrit par erreur sous le nom de Rabi' ibn al-Fadl ("Rabi' ibn al-Fadl
ke der avd'il-e bai'at-e Rashid be vizdrat rasid").

. Quant au contenu de 1'ouvrage, les anecdotes suivantes montrent
qu'il est d'inspiration surtout morale et mystique. Les anecdotes sont
de longueur variable, les unes reduites a 1' introduction d'un bon mot
ou d'une reponse subtile, les autres ayant l'etendue d'une petite
nouvelle. Le style est elegant, sans periodes trop amples ni vocabulaire
recherche; les images forcees, peu nombreuses (excepte, en quelque
mesure, dans la conclusion ou les mots arabes abondent).

J'aurais souhaite d'offrir le texte persan de ces anecdotes; mais
le present volume excluant les longs textes en caracteres orientaux, je
me suis borne a. traduire en francais quelques anecdotes, afm d'attirer
1' attention des orientalistes et des specialistes de l'histoire litteraire
sur un auteur et un ouvrage peu connus.

En effet, j'ai cherche vainement un autre exemplaires de V Anis
ol-dqilin dans les catalogues de manuscrits orientaux. Mais une

171

172

A LOCUST S LEG

notice sur un autre ouvrage de Mir Qari est donnee par W. Ivanow
(qui le dit rare, p. XVIII de son Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian
Manuscripts, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Biblio. Indica, 11 ° 241,
Calcutta, 1926): cet opuscule de 25 feuillets, intitule Shaltdqiye
(n° 669 du Cat.) est un carrier de doleances contre l'indiscipline et les
violences (Shaltdqdt) des troupes tenant garnison dans certaines villes
du Gilan et du Mazandaran. "The date of composition is not given;
the work was most probably, written under the later Safawides." La
date de la composition de V Anis ol-dqilin, indiquee ci-apres par son
auteur (1087 H./1676, sous le regne de Safi Sulaiman le Safavi)
confirme la conjoncture d'lvanow ("later Safawides").

D'autre part, dans la meme conclusion, Mir Qari se dit vieillard,
parle de son desespoir cause par une faute: peut-etre fait-il allusion a
une disgrace qui aurait suivi la divulgation de ses plaintes contre les
exces des militaires.

En outre, "dans l'ouvrage, intitule Waqd'i' ol-ayam, il est ecrit
que Molla Mir al-Qari al-Kawkabi al-Djilani contemporain de
Shah-Abbas est 1'auteur d'un livre intitule Zubdat-ol-haqaiq (la
quintessence des verites); cet ouvrage contient plusieurs chapitres
rediges en arabe ou en persan (dont 1'un: Paroles memorables du
Prophete et de 'Ali ibn Abi-Talib); ouvrage compose pour Sultan
Ahmad-Khan, gouverneur du Guilan; 1'auteur du Waqd'i' ol-ayam
vit a Tabriz une partie de cet ouvrage" (Yousef Shirazi, Catalogue de
la Madrasa Sipahsalar de Teheran, t. II, p. 147 med.). Mir Qari se
declarant vieillard en l'annee 1676, date de l'achevement de Y Anis, le
souverain susnomme est Shah- Abbas II (1642-67).

Enfin le catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque de la
Faculte des Lettres de Teheran, compose par M. Mohammad Taqi
Danesh Pajouh (Madjalle-ye Daneshkade-ye Adabiydt (n° 1, mihr
1339/1960), mentionne (p. 459 n° 60 B) un recueil contenant (fol.
93-95) une lettre de Molla Mir Qari a un Vizir. Je dois a l'obligeance
de M. le Doyen A. A. Siassi une photographie de ce texte: le vizir
avait ecrit a Mir Qari pour lui demander conseil et s'enquerir au sujet
des connaissances naturelles et des sciences acquises; dans sa reponse,
de style savant et pompeux, encombre de mots arabes, Mir Qari
1'invite a etudier particulierement le Coran et lui expose les merites
de la lecture du Saint Livre. Cette lettre vaut par le style plus que
par la pensee.

L ANIS OL- AQILIN 173

Extrait de la conclusion (fol. 197 V)

La redaction et la composition de cet ouvrage arriverent a 1'etape
finale et au degre d'achevement le lundi 7 de 1'auguste mois sha'ban,
annee 1087, par la main et l'effort de 1'auteur, Molla Mir Qari Gilani.
Alors que le feu du desespoir et de la privation avait consume l'airee
de son esperance et de son repos, et que le flambeau des tristesses
infinies avait ete allume au plus profond de son esprit, il se mit a
esperer que, si une negligence ou une faute avait trouve le moyen de
se produire, et si le soleil du signe favorable et de la protection
gracieuse n'avait pas resplendi sur les parterres des circonstances et
sur les feuillets couverts de texte, pourtant les perroquets usant
melodieusement d'une eloquence comparable a un champ de Cannes
a Sucre, et les rossignols aux chants varies du jardin de l'eloquence
persuasive fixeraient sur lui le regard de l'indulgence, estimeraient
etrange et surprenant de la part de l'homme bienveillant la notation
des signes d'imperfection, et cela parce que negligence et lapsus sont
inherents a l'etat de l'etre humain en ce bas-monde et parce que
l'erreur et le defaut sont lies a la condition des hommes. Comment
n'en serait-il pas ainsi, les hommes etant crees faibles?
Lorsqu'il ne restera ni plainte ni gaite,
ni calame ni main ni mon corps ni mon ame,
un seul mot qui de moi gardera la memoire
tiendra mon souvenir en Fesprit des amis.
Mon intention premiere en ordonnant ces propositions, mon but
integral en assemblant et en disposant ces lettres et ces mots etaient
que mon ouvrage fut soumis a 1'auguste examen de celui qui conjugue
noblesse et generosite, qui suit les traces de la bienveillance et de la
bonte, qui est source de largesse et de liberalite, qui assemble per-
fections et belles qualites, qui reunit et groupe les hommes intel-
ligents et les gens d'esprit penetrant, celui qui affermit les bases de la
bienfaisance et des bonnes ceuvres, qui consolide les fondements des
obligations et des ceuvres pies, lui, l'enfant cheri des talents et de la
perspicacite, la lumiere du clos des vertus et du savoir, celui qui a
pour privilege les dons de la Providence, notre seigneur Ishaq (que
jamais la poussiere de la tristesse ou de la lassitude ne couvre son
heureux esprit! qu'en tout temps et en toute circonstance, la grace
divine soit la compagne de son etat qui presage le bonheur et s'attache
a ses affaires destinees a une heureuse issue!).

J'espere de la munificence de cette personnalite puissante et

174

a locust's leg

bienveillante, adoree de tout etre humble ou puissant, veneree par
tout etre bien portant ou souffrant, que ma requete et mon desir
seront accordes dans le meilleur temps et a la plus favorable occasion,
et que le souvenir du pauvre vieillard que je suis passera quelquefois
dans le cceur debordant de generosite et pur de malveillance de ce
seigneur de haut parage.

Anecdote (fol. 137 R)

On dit que le comportement d'un religieux aux manieres benies de
Dieu plut a un roi favorise du sort; ce roi desira qu'il vint en son
palais pour que, libere du souci de sa subsistance, il se consacrat
paisiblement au service de Dieu. Ce religieux lui dit: "Si, une fois,
vous me voyiez batifoler avec une de vos esclaves, que me diriez-
vous?" Le roi repondit: "Scelerat! pourquoi done agirais-tu de telle
facon? — Sire! j'ai un maitre genereux et misericordieux qui, meme si
je pechais soixante-dix fois par jour, me pardonnerait sur ma simple
demande, sans se courroucer ni me retirer le pain quotidien, cela en
vertu du verset coranique: Ouiconque fait un mal et se Use soi-meme,
puis implore le pardon a" Allah, le trouve absoluteur et misericordieux
(IV, 110); or vous vous courroucez a propos d'un peche non
commis; comment done quitterais-je la Cour de ce divin maitre pour
chercher refuge aupres de vous?"

Anecdote (meme fol.)

Rabf ibn al-Fadl parvint au vizirat dans les jours qui suivirent
l'investiture de Rashid. Quelque temps apres, l'epoque du pelerinage
fut proche. Le calife ordonna de tenir conseil sous sa presidence pour
designer celui qui conduirait le mahmal. Rabi' repondit: "Pourquoi
reunir le conseil? — Pour choisir un homme qui transportera le
mahmal d'Iraq, preservera l'honneur du calife et sera digne de regler
les affaires de toute la caravane des pelerins". Rabi' declara: "Puisque
vous posez la question de ce service, je ne trouve personne plus
convenable que moi; j'espere done de la generosite du calife qu'il
accordera a son humble serviteur la distinction et le privilege d'assurer
cet office, car le pelerinage n'a pas encore cesse d'etre d'obligation
pour moi". II outra tellement instances et supplications que sa
demande fut agreee. Quand il revint du Hedjaz, il persevera et per-
sists dans la piete et la satisfaction, sans s'attacher d'aucune matiere
aux activites profanes. Un jour (d'entre les jours) que le calife rendait
visite a des ermites, le souvenir de Rabi' lui passa par Fesprit; et il se

L ANIS OL- AQILIN

175

dit: "Les services qu'il rendit a notre dynastie lui donnent des droits.
II ne faut pas s'abstenir de s'enquerir de lui". Le calife tourna bride
vers l'ermitage de Rabi'; l'ayant trouve, il lui demanda sur le ton de la
cordialite: "Pourquoi done as-tu abandonne notre societe?" Pas de
reponse. Ce que voyant, le calife donna cet ordre: "Quoi qu'il en soit,
dis-moi comment cela se fait?" Rabi' repondit: "Fort bien! e'est
qu'auparavant je servais un souverain qui ne me recompensait pas de
dix bons services; or maintenant, je sers un souverain qui, pour un
seul service, m'accorde dix recompenses. Ouiconque aura fait le bien
recevra dix fois V equivalent de ce bien (Cor. VI, 161). Chaque fois que
je voulais presenter une reclamation, il en resultait pour moi toute
sorte de troubles et d'inconvenients, toute espece d'observations et de
blames. A present, je suis libere de tout cela, et Allah connait toutes
mes secretes pensees, car II salt bien ce qui se trouve dans les cceurs
(Cor. passim); e'est avec Lui qu'il fallait m'accorder sans cesse.
Maintenant, II est le garant de toutes mes affaires. Auparavant, vous
vous livriez au sommeil, tandis que je restais eveille; mais maintenant
e'est moi qui dors tandis qu'il veille, car ni somnolence ni sommeil ne Le
prennent (Cor. II, 256). Auparavant, je savais que ma subsistance
dependait de vous; maintenant, je suis certain qu'elle depend de Sa
generosite, car il ?i'est point ici-bas d 'animal dont la subsistance n'in-
combe a Allah (Cor. XI, 8)".

Rabi' parla tellement sur ce ton que le calife se mit a pleurer, prit
Rabi' par la main et lui dit: "Bien que tu aies ete precedemment a
mon service, aujourd'hui, en Allah et par Allah, tu es mon frere. —
Gloke a Allah, le souverain bon par excellence! Serais-je attache
durant des annees a votre cour, je ne parviendrais jamais a ce degre",
repondit Rabi'; et il dit encore: "O calife! si vous le pouvez, durant
deux jours au moins, en toute liberte d'esprit, echappez au tourment
cause par le tumulte d'ici-bas; n'attachez point vos regards sur la
suavite des debuts d'une affaire et considerez plutot l'amertume de
sa fin".

Anecdote (fol. 138 R.)

Chaque fois qu'un des princes de la region de Badakhshan avait un
enfant et que celui-ci, parvenant a l'age de discernement, etait bien
informe de ce qu'est vraiment la mort, il renoncait aux vaines activites
de ce monde perfide et, se retirant dans le recoin d'une grotte, il se
contentait de vegetaux et d'eau pour se nourrir, apres avoir rompu

176 A locust's leg

tous liens d'amitie et d'attachement aux habitants de ce bas-monde.
Mais lorsque, tardivement, un fils naquit a ce roi, il ordonna de le
tenir en un endroit oil il ne verrait personne autre que lui-meme et ne
serait vu de personne, de sorte qu'il ne soufflat ni n'entendit souffler
mot de mort et d'au-dela. Ses serviteurs agirent suivant cet ordre.
Quand son fils eut atteint et depasse l'age de discernement, le roi
donna ordre de l'amener a un appartement particulier et de le confier
a un precepteur qui l'instruirait des manieres propres aux princes.
D'aventure, en cours de route, on lui fit traverser un bazar; de tout ce
qui tombait sous son regard penetrant, il s'enquerait exactement et il
en atteignait la vraie connaissance. Comme un convoi funebre passait
devant lui, il se mit a questionner et a. verifier ce qu'il en etait. On lui
dit: "Cette personne est morte; elle a bu le poison du trepas; elle a fait
ses adieux au sejour d'ici-bas". Ainsi, il apprit en detail les etats de
mort et d'au-dela; il connut les etats et les terreurs de l'enfer, le
paradis, les houris, les palais celestes, recompense et chatiment,
clemence et punition divines et tout ce qui s'y rapporte. II sut done
que notre presence et nos joies en ce monde se terminent par desap-
pointement et lassitude, que l'automne de la separation et de l'anean-
tissement fait suite au printemps de l'union et de la stabilite. Alors, il
demanda: "Que font les sages pour s'echapper, se sauver et gagner
1'approbation du Createur? — lis obeissent aux ordres divins, renon-
cent aux amusements et au peche" lui repondit-on. Alors, exhalant de
son sein brulant et de son coeur dechire un douloureux soupir, il
s'ecria: "Helas! 6 mort! 6 mort!" Puis, sans revoir ses parents, il prit
la route du desert et nul ne le revit.

Anecdote (fol. 138 V)

On dit qu'un monarque alia voir un sage; il le trouva dans une maison
plus resserree que le coeur des amoureux, souffrant la peine de
1'isolement, subissant la separation de ses intimes, se plaignant du
sort et des evenements, pauvre en revenus avec beaucoup de depenses.
II lui dit: "S'il m'etait accorde en l'autre monde d'avoir une place de
la meme valeur que la tienne, j'en serais satisfait et je n'aurais nul
desir d'accroissement". Le sage repondit: "Plut au ciel que tes desirs,
en ce monde perissable, fussent de meme nature que le tien quant a
1'au-dela. A raison de la parfaite intelligence du roi, il est surprenant
qu'en ce monde perissable ou Ton ne se fie point a une existence
passagere, il ne se contente pas de la partie qui en est habitee, alors

L ANIS OL- AQILIN

177

qu'en l'autre monde oil l'aneantissement n'intervient nullement, il se
contente de trois metres carres de terre".

Anecdote (fol. 138 V)

Un homme disait souvent: "Je m'etonne qu'au moment de rendre
l'ame les hommes ne parlent point de la durete du trepas, bien qu'ils
aient encore leur intelligence et leur capacite de parole". Lorsqu'il
lacha la traine de l'espoir en la vie et qu'il tomba dans les penibles
rets de l'agonie, son fils lui dit: "Garde-toi de souiller ta robe en la
salissant du defaut que tu reprochais a autrui: ne pas consacrer un
instant a decrire la difflculte et la nature de la mort". II repondit:
"Mon fils, le feu devorant de la mort est trop ardent pour qu'un
humain puisse en decrire quelque peu la flamme; l'epreuve de l'ar-
rachement de l'ame, le malheur de mourir sont trop penibles, trop
durs pour qu'on puisse les qualifier; e'est pourquoi les hommes
avertis se sont contentes en ce bas-monde d'un froc et d'une bouchee
de nourriture, et n'ont pas mis leur confiance en les grandeurs suivies
d'abaissement, les heur et malheur de ce monde ephemere".

Anecdote (fol. 145 V)

On a raconte qu'un homme n'avait jamais rien demande au Tres-
Haut et qu'il disait: "Celui qui croit a un lot predestine de toute
eternite, pourquoi done adresserait-il une demande a Dieu?" Un jour
qu'il se trouvait dans la plus extreme indigence, sa femme lui dit:
"Maintenant, demande quelque chose". II repondit: "Ce sont les avares
qui demandent. Celui qui m'a donne ma subsistance alors que j'etais
dans le sein de ma mere, comment m'abandonnerait-il maintenant?"

Anecdote (id.)

Le Sheikh Shibli et le Sheikh Juna'id tomberent malades le meme
jour. Un medecin chretien vint aupres de Shibli et lui demanda de
quoi il souffrait. "De rien", repondit Shibli. Le medecin vint chez
Junai'd et lui posa la meme question. Juna'id exposa son mal et son
inquietude; et le chretien le soigna. Quand tous deux eurent recouvre
la sante, Shibli dit a Juna'id: "Pourquoi done as-tu revele a un chretien
le secret de ton mal et t'es-tu laisse aller a te plaindre de FAmi celeste?"
Junai'd repondit: "Afin que ce chretien sache que, si Allah agit ainsi
envers celui qui l'aime, que fera-t-il au chretien qui est son ennemi?
Mais toi, pourquoi ne lui as-tu pas dit ce dont tu souffrais? — J'aurais
eu honte de me plaindre de 1'Ami celeste en presence de son ennemi".

NOUVELLES RECHERCHES SUR SALMAN PAK

Par L. MASSIGNON

II m'est precieux d'offrir, comme contribution au "Florilege" dedie
a un grand Iranien, cette documentation inedite sur le premier et le
plus grand d'entre les Sahaba iraniens.

C'est en 1933-4 que la Societe des Etudes Iraniennes de Paris
publiait mon "Salman Pak et les premices spirituelles de l'lslam
Iranien"; les textes inedits que j'y donnais en traduction francaise
(app. I, pp. 43-7) furent publies dans l'arabe original par le Prof.
AR. Badawi, dans sa traduction arabe de mon etude (ap. ses "Shakh-
siyat qaliqa", 1946, pp. 3-58). Quant a la traduction anglaise annot.ee
publiee a Bombay en 1955 par Jamshedji M. Unvala, elle lui ajoute,
en preface, une etude critique sur les '"Ahdndme", apocryphes
anciens transmis dans la tradition mazdeenne revendiquant Salman
comme ayant obtenu exoneration de la jissya pour la famille de son
frere reste mazdeen.

D'autre part mes contacts directs avec les Nusayris de Syrie, mes
etudes sur la personnalite spirituelle si meconnue de Fatima Zahra,
sur sa participation a la Mubahala de Medine, et sur la Futuwwa des
corporations musulmanes, m'ont amene, sur plusieurs points, a
approfondir mon etude de 1933-4 sur Salman.

1° son role a Medine aupres des Ahl al-Bayt.

2° sa participation a Kufa, aux expeditions 'abdites (Zayd-b.-
Suhan) tendant a l'islamisation du Fars.

3° sa maitrise en 'ilm a Kufa (hadith; ta'wil).

4° son gouvernement de Madam, cette capitale immense, dont il
islamise les corporations artisanales, avant d'y mourir.

1° A Medine

Des son arrivee a Medine, Salman fait figure d'autorite en matiere
religieuse, de reference pour le Prophete: cet a'jami du v. 105 de la
sourate al-Nahl (XVI), aux resonnances shi'ites si soutenues (selon le

178

NOUVELLES RECHERCHES SUR SALMAN PAK

179

sunnite Dahhak, et selon les Ismaeliens). Quelle avait ete la formation
religieuse de Salman? Ne dans le mazdeisme, qu'il abandonna
(puisqu'il admettra, avec l'lslam, la purete de la Vierge Marie que le
mazdeisme vilipende: cf. Dinkart), il semble avoir adopte un christian-
isme ascetique archai'sant, judaisant (la circoncision avait pour lui
valeur initiatique; chirurgien-barbier, il dut circoncire Hasan et
Husayn); au cours de longs pelerinages, dont Fun peut avoir ete aux
VII Dormants d'Amorium, 1 lui conferant caractere de macrobite
"mu'ammar" . Constitue l'hote personnel du Prophete (formule
solennelle: anta minnd Ahl al-Bayt), loge dans la tente de Fatima et
'Ali il devint tout naturellement, apres la mort du Prophete, leur con-
seiller spirituel. Non pas pour une politique legitimiste dont 'Ali ne
concevra 1'idee qu'apres la mort de Salman, mais pour certains actes
familiaux typiques: erection d'une "tente des douleurs" au Baqi',
pour le deuil filial de Fatima; manage de Husayn avec une noble
iranienne, non pas fille de Yazdajard, mais de Hurmuzan, 2 lie comme
Salman aux 'Abdulqays (Ibn Qutayba, ma'drif, 145). Dans notre
etude sur la Mubahala, nous avons suggere que ce role de "conseiller"
des Ahl al-Bayt fut devour a Salman des cette proposition d'ordalie
aux Chretiens du Najran, a cause de ses antecedents christianisants. 3

2° A Kufa; a propos du Fars

Nous avons longuement expose en 1933 comment Salman est etroite-
ment lie aux expeditions en Fars des 'Abdulqays de Zayd-b.-Suhan
(futur chef shi'ite) qui n'avaient pas encore quitte Kufa pour Basra.
Ajoutons que notre principal rawi, Simak Dhuhli ('fl23'), est d'abord
la source de la Qissa Salman sunnite classique pour Ibn Hibban et
Hakim (Ibn Hajar, tahdhib al-tahdhib, IV, 139), puis qu'il est aussi un
rawi du shi'ite Abu Salih Badhan, transmetteur des hadith de la
celebre Umm Hani selon Ibn Hanbal (VI, 340-4).

3° Sa maitrise en 'ilm, a Kufa

Des sources sunnites autorisees classent Salman parmi les maitres
de la science a Kufa (done hadith, et ta'wil); un des Quatre; avec

1 Sur S. a Amorium, cf. Mem. Soc. Emul. Cotes du Nord, 1957, 149.

2 Musdhara affirm^ par Istakhri; A.-b.-M. Hurmuzani est un rdioi de
Husayn (Mamuqani, no 8515).

3 S. est, vis a vis du Prophete, comme Luqman vis a vis de son fils (Sacy,
Druzes 2, 142). Pour les Ahl6 Haqq, S. est identique a Gabriel et a Benyamin.

ISO A LOCUST S LEG

'Uwaymir, Ibn Mas'ud et 'AA.-b.-Salam, ou bien avec Ibn Mas'ud,
'Ammar et Hudhayfa (Tirmidhi, 629; Bukhari, 531, selon Sprenger,
1,442).

II serait interessant de constituer un musnad sunnite de Salman;
il y a des elements: le fameux hadith "al-ariodh jiiniid mujannada"
etc. 1

Des eleves directs de Salman iront avec lui a Madam; 'AR.-b.-
Mas'ud, ami de Zayd-b.-Suhan, Suwayd, l'inventeur du pain
"hatvdri" (isaba, n° 3616) etc.

4° A Madam: son action et sa mort; ses hadith
en persan; l'isnad corporatif salmaniyen

II n'y a aucune raison de recuser la nomination de Salman comme wali
de Madai'n par le calife 'Umar, du moment qu'on rejette comme
infondees les traditions shi'ites opposant les deux hommes lors de
l'election d'Abu Bakr, tout au moins sous la forme violente que les
Ta'ziyes leur ont dramatiquement donnee. Iranien de naissance,
Salman eut pour principale tache d'organiser les rapports de Pirn- i
mense proletariat artisanal de l'ancienne capitale sassanide avec ses
conquerants arabes du jund de Kufa. D'abord en facilitant 1'implanta-
tion de travailleurs iraniens a Kufa meme, ou Ton voit graduellement
des noms persans donnes aux rues 2 (comme a Kazimen de notre
temps). Puis en aidant ces artisans plus ou moins convertis a adapter
leurs compagnonnages preislamiques a la societe musulmane. De ces
deux taches, nous avons trouve des traces.

Dans les phrases qu'on a fait prononcer par Salman en persan
pour caracteriser certaines situations politiques, nous croyons qu'il
s'agit de traductions de 1'arabe, posthumes. En 1933 nous avons
etudie la sentence "kardtd o nakardid" 3 relative a la Saqifa, regrettant
l'election d'Abu Bakr (aj. aux sources la risala druze XVII, tr. Sacy,

1 Maqdisi, bad', 2, 96.

2 Sur l'h£tt:rodoxie de Kufa "madai'nisee", cf. la celebre qasida d'Ibn
al-Mu'tazz.

3 Cette sentence shi'ite fameuse, sous sa forme primitive arabe "asibtiwi
zva'khta'tum", semble decalquee sur une sentence sunnite anterieure, "asibtn aw
akhta'tu?", d'Abu Bakr (hadith al-Zulla, admis par Bukhari et Muslim), oil il
raconte au Prophete un reve sur la scission future de l'Umma, sous son 3me
successeur (je 1'ai Etudie en detail dans mon essai sur la "Rawda de M£dine,
cadre de la meditation musulmane sur la destin^e du Prophete", ap. BIFAO,
le Caire, 1960).

TAQIZADEH VOL.

La tombe de Salman Pak

NOUVELLES RECHERCHES SUR SALMAN PAK l8l

2, 143-4; et le kashkul de Beha 'Amili). Sarakhsi (mabsut, 1, 37:
comm. Hamidullah) affirme que Salman avait traduit en persan la
Fatiha coranique (anticipation d'une these hanafite).

Et dans les Futicwzoat-Name corporatifs, ainsi que nous l'avons
etudie dans la Nouvelle Clio (Bruxelles, 1952, IV, 171-98), Salman
est legitimement Feponyme 1 des initiations artisanales musulmanes,
parce qu'il a vecu a Madam. Sa tombe, 2 que j'y ai souvent visitee, de
1907 a 1958, abrite maintenant a ses cotes deux autres Sahaba insignes,
a tendances gnostiques, Hudhayfa, et Jabir-b.-'AA. Ansari. 3

1 On trouvera la liste detaillee des isnad corporatifs remontant a Salman
dans l'App. no 1 de mon etude precipe sur la "Futuwwa".

2 Cette tombe, refaite, et sans interet artistique (photo publ. par moi en
1934 dans la "Seconde Priere d'Abraham"), porte en epigraphe Qur. 13, 24,
puis le hadith "anta minna Ahl al-Bayt". — Sur la bataille livree tout aupres,
cf. (en turc) "Salmane Pak midane muharebesi" de Mehmed Emin, Istanbul,
1337 h.

Addenda a la bibliographie de 1933 (p. 47 sq.):

(a) Auteurs orientaux: Tabari, dhayl al-mudhayyal (ta'rikh, p. 39). —
Ma'arri, ghufrdn. — Khaqani, diw. 364, 95. — Ibn Arabi, musdmardt, I, 190-3. —
Ibrahim Tusi, ms. LM, f. 174-5, 181, 182.— Nesimi, diw., p. 52.— Nasavi,
tabaqdt (siifiya: ziydddt sur S.). — Evliya, siyahet-name (cf. notre "Futuwwa"). —
Majlisi, bihdr, XXI, 299 (cf. aussi ap. la safina dAbbas Qummi, son index,
s.v.). — Sh. A Lahsai', ziydrat Salman, comm. par S. Kazim Reshti, cit. par le
Bab. — Khunsari, raivddt (t. I, p. 3, en marge, a/s Ispahan). — Mamuqani,
tanqih, 2, p. 45-8. — Beha'ullah, Lawh Salman (ap. ses Akvdh, ms. P; sup. pers.
1754). — Et, tout recemment les Etudes de Giilpinarli Abdulbaki (par ex. ses
"Melamiler", p. 201, n. 1 sur le "Salman etmek" des Bayramiya; et son
"Yunus", p. 13-15, sur la participation de Salman a la ziyara des XL selon les
Qyzylbash).

(b) Auteurs europeens: L. A. Mayer, Satura epigraphica arabica, III, p.
24—5: texte de l'inscription salmaniyenne d'Isdud, de Balban, 667 h.

(c) Corr. p. 49, n. 3, 1. 2: aj. a "nahj . .", comm. d'Ibn abil Hadid, 14, 94,
1. 8; aj. a Ibn Khallad, 1. 3: cf. Fihrist, 125.— Cf. aussi Majlisi, bihdr, XVII,
81-141.

REFLEXIONS SUR ZURVAN

Par. J. de MENASCE

Desireux de contribuer a honorer notre jubilaire, a qui les etudes
iraniennes doivent tant, ayant, d'autre part, un tout autre propos que
de discuter en detail les theses recentes et d'ailleurs remarquables
d'excellents iranistes tels que Zaehner, Bianchi et Mole, je me borne
ici a suggerer de Zurvan une vue qui me semble devoir etre mise, ou
peut etre remise, en evidence.

Decomposons le mythe, tel que le rapporte par exemple Eznik,
en ses elements explicatifs et images, et notons d'abord que l'idee
qui en commande l'ensemble est d'expliquer l'apparition du mal
non pas a l'interieur de la creation, mais en dehors d'elle, avant
elle, au dessus d'elle. Le mal ne saurait provenir de ce qui est
bien par definition, il faut done qu'il provienne d'un principe in-
determine. Certains savants voient ici les caracteristiques d'un dieu
moralement indifferent, au dela du bien et du mal et distribuant
indifferemment l'un et l'autre. On neglige d'observer que si le
createur etait tel, il ne servirait de rien a Zurvan de produire un
createur du ciel et de la terre: il lui sufErait de produire, dans un
monde issu de lui, le melange de bien et de mal que nous y constatons.
Nous sommes amenes a dire que si la creation est bonne, ce qui est
un des articles de foi du mazdeisme, et si bonne qu'il faut l'intervention
d'un autre quasi-createur, Ahriman, pour que les choses mauvaises
apparaissent, l'origine premiere du mal comme du bien, mais plus
encore du mal, est au dela de la creation. Le createur- demiurge ne
peut etre que bon et integralement; e'est la position inverse que
prendront les manicheens: toute creation est entachee de mal, et le
bien se situe toujours au dela de la creation. Disons done que le dieu
Zurvan ne se situe pas au meme niveau d'etre et de representation
que les principes createurs, Ohrmazd et Ahriman, et n'a pas la meme
fonction qu'eux.

REFLEXIONS SUR ZURVAN 1 83

Sommes-nous en train de philosopher au point d'oublier le
caractere primitif et simple du mythe? N'est-ce pas trop que de parler
a propos de lui d'indetermination primordiale? Sans doute les
auteurs armeniens, syriaques ou arabes qui nous rapportent le mythe
comme une realite contemporaine sont-ils d'une epoque ou l'lran
etait depuis longtemps penetree de courants philosophiques et ou Ton
se piquait de posseder une religion eclairee. Mais tournons nous vers
un passe beaucoup plus lointain, et vers un espace tres proche de
l'lran. L'Inde nous fournit un texte fameux, trop fameux et dont
par accoutumance on risque d'emousser la pointe: l'hymne cosmogo-
nique du Rg Veda X, 129. Ici encore un indetermine primordial, et la
terminologie si precocement precise de 1'Inde nous le decrit comme
anterieur non seulement aux dieux createurs mais a 1'etre et au non-
etre, a la mort et a la non-mort, anterieur surtout a la creation second-
aire, celle de notre monde, le monde d' Ohrmazd dirait un iranien. Et
le principe de tout cela, sa connaissance meme est indeterminee au
point qu'on nous suggere en fin de course "qu'il sait — a moins qu'il
ne sache pas". Or cette multivalence latente et originelle (car il ne
s'agit pas du tout d'un dieu "au rancart", d'un deus otiosus) est toute
differente d'un rapport essentiel aux realites concretes et visibles, qui
est le propre des dieux createurs: mais il est concevable que Ton puisse
s'en passer, en faire l'economie, et cela explique le caractere histori-
quement interchangeable d'Ahura Mazda et de Spenta Manyu en
Iran, tandis que 1'Inde est restee fidele religieusement et philoso-
phiquement a une dichotomie qui fait malgre tout de la creation un
mode de "production" de deuxieme ordre. Mais ce que nous retien-
drons comme religieusement pertinent et philosophiquement grandi-
ose, e'est la distinction ancienne entre ces deux modes et la diversite
des divinites responsables qui en resulte.

Le second trait a signaler dans le mythe de Zurvan, e'est son
rapport avec le Temps et on peut dire qu'il participe du premier.
Car le Temps pris en soi jouit d'une indetermination qui ajoute
encore a celle de Zurvan, tout en etant susceptible de mesure, de
limite, de commencement et de fin, caracteres que ne comporte pas la
duree comme telle. Cette ambivalence du temps, total ou divisible,
est magnifiquement refletee dans la terminologie iranienne qui
distingue entre zurvan akanarak et zurvan i drang xvatay, et l'usage
de FAvesta, tres reduit et appauvri, suggere qu'il s'agit d'une concep-
tion ancienne.

184

A LOCUST S LEG

Comment se mesure le Temps? Par les mouvements des spheres,
mais aussi par la duree humaine, par les ages de la vie. Or les
textes syriaques nous rapportent comme autant d'attributs de
Zurvan trois epithetes, dont on reconnait facilement l'origine
iranienne, qui signifient "celui qui rend brillant" (?), "celui qui rend
viril", "celui qui rend vieux": c'est la synthese de la vie, naissance,
maturite, mort. Zurvan qui est en dehors de la creation peut fort bien
etre dans le temps (duree indivise et moments divises) qui est a la
fois simultane a la creation et en dehors d'elle. (On concoit tres bien,
soit dit en passant, que 1'espace ne puisse jouer le meme role.) Zurvan,
presidant au temps qu'il symbolise, on voit maintenant qu'il peut fort
bien etre premier sans etre createur: or c'est precisement la le carac-
tere que M. Dumezil 1 a reconnu a Vayu, dans le monde indo-iranien,
a Janus bifrons dans le monde latin, et nul n'ignore les rapports
etroits qui unissent Zurvan a Vayu. N'oublions pas en effet que Vayu,
dieu atmospherique, a par lui-meme une afRnite avec le temps lequel
est toujours en rapport avec les mouvements celestes. Faut-il enfin
tenir compte, ainsi que nous serions portes a le faire, de Pinterpreta-
tion que M. Ghirshman 2 donne d'un bronze du Louristan qui repres-
ente une divinite androgyne donnant naissance, d'une part, a une
paire d'etres identiques, de l'autre protegeant trois series de petits
personnages d'ages differents?

Le nom de Zurvan, nous dit un auteur grec, signifie le Sort,
c'est a dire une realite qui, si elle se realise a travers le temps, le
depasse d'une certaine facon et le commande. D'autre part, notre
bronze du Louristan, nos epithetes syriaques, nous rappellent 1'aspect
nefaste du temps, l'usure qu'il exerce sur les etres vivants, et, au
terme, la mort. Et nous voila de nouveau contraints d'invoquer nos
paralleles indiens. Dans l'epopee, Kala, representation divine du
temps, joue un role nettement meurtrier: "Le puissant serpent qui
repose aupres de la source, Kala, c'est lui qui met fin aux etres doues
d'un corps"; "Kala prend pour lui les ames des etres doues de corps
selon la loi du temps". II y a trente ans Scheftelowitz, qui consacrait
un livre au Temps comme divinite du sort dans les religions indienne
et iranienne, concluait assez paradoxalement qu'il n'y avait aucun
rapport entre Kala et Zurvan, parce que la religion iranienne avait

1 De Janus a Vesta, dans Tarpeia, Paris, 1947.

2 "Notes iraniennes VIII" dans Artibus Asiae 21 (1958), 37 sq.

REFLEXIONS SUR ZURVAN 1 85

ete des le debut dualiste. Or c'est precisement ce dualisme primitif
qui est aujourd'hui en question. Le mythe de Zurvan ne contredit
pas le dualisme en tant qu'il le laisse subsister (et meme qu'il le
runs to death) pour tout ce qui est du domaine de la creation. II
1'annonce, mais il se place a un stade anterieur, a l'origine qui est
avant les origines. Les genealogies divines ne doivent plus etre, ce
qu'elles ont ete longtemps a nos yeux, des projections des genealogies
humaines: pour les usagers du mythe il subsiste, semble-t'il, une
diversite radicale entre prologue au ciel et prologue sur la terre, et
cela s'accorde merveilleusement avec la dichotomie temps indivis et
temps mesure. Quel meilleur commentaire de la doctrine iranienne
du Primordial indetermine et du Temps ambivalent que ce fragment
indien que cite Scheftelowitz: "En verite il y a deux formes du
Brahman: le temps et le non-temps. Ce qui existait avant le soleil,
c'etait le non-temps, l'indivisible; ce qui a commence avec le soleil,
c'est le temps, le divisible"?

Kala a pour allie, messager et executeur des hautes ceuvres,
Mrtyu, la mort. Conformement a la theologie proprement indienne
qui integre et interprete le mythe, ils sont tous deux au service de
Karman, developpement dont on ne trouve pas plus trace en Iran que
de la doctrine de la transmigration. Par contre le lien entre Temps et
Mort est parfaitment reconnaissable, avec cette difference que l'lran
ne personnifie guere les etres nefastes ou du moins les laisse dans une
certaine penombre. Mais dans la perspective d'Ohrmazd, auteur
d'une creation excellente, de la vie et de la fecondite, la mort et toutes
formes de corruption ne peuvent etre que Peffet d'Ahriman "pleine-
ment mortifere" comme disent les textes pehlevis. Des lors, il sera
normal de trouver dans une branche folle, tres occidentalisee, du
mazdeisme, dans le mithriacisme, des sculptures tres frequentes
d'homme a tete de lion enlace par un serpent qui lui couvre tout le
corps: s'il a ete longtemps identifie au Temps, plusieurs bons auteurs
(Zaehner, Duchesne-Guillemin) inclinent aujourd'hui a y voir
Ahriman. Peut-etre est-ce 1'aspect temporel d'Ahriman qui le designe
comme dieu de la mort et mitige quelque peu son caractere cruel,
ce qui expliquerait les manifestations mithriaques d'un culte
d'Ahriman — a moins qu'il ne faille les interpreter au sens apotro-
pa'iques, ce qui est moins probable.

Les polemistes chretiens s'en sont donnes a cceur joie de railler
les adeptes de Zurvan en raison de ce dieu primordial, done solitaire,

i86

A LOCUST S LEG

qui offre, mille ans durant, des sacrifices en vue d'obtenir un fils.
C'etait ignorer ou rejeter sans plus la doctrine classique des brah-
manas pour laquelle est createur le sacrifice comme tel. Bien plus, on
nous dit expressement que c'est dans le meme but que Prajapati offrit
des sacrifices. Enfin, l'allusion a des realites d'ordre rituel ne s'arrete
pas la. Zurvan, ayant sacrifie mille ans fut pris d'un doute dont
nacquit Ahriman. On pourrait, il est vrai, songer au passage de
FUpanisad qui nous dit que le Purusa qui etait l'Atman, etant seul
eut peur, et nous savons que le doute est une espece de peur. Mais ce
n'est pas dans cette direction qu'il faut, je crois, chercher. Je songerais
plutot a Finsistance caracteristique avec laquelle le mazdeisme prone
la foi-confiance dans Fefficacite du rite bien accompli, et par dela dans
la divinite qui la garantit. La profession de foi du jeune mazdeen lors
de son initiation a la vie d'adulte lui prescrit de declarer que sa foi est
exempte de doute, qu'elle porte sur l'existence (hastih) de(s) dieu(x)
aussi bien qu'en son efficience, foi en la non-existence, c'est a dire,
tres certainement, en la non-efficience finale d' Ahriman.

C'est la une formule qui doit etre ancienne: nous la retrouvons
par exemple dans une des inscriptions de Kartir, au debut de Favene-
ment des Sassanides: Schaeder 1'avait deja remarque. Nous retrouvons
l'expression "foi exempte de doute" tout au long des livres pehlevis
consacres aux rites: nous en avons fait une riche moisson que nous ne
croyons pas avoir a donner ici. Citons simplement un passage qui
montre que, de cette certitude, on connaissait des varietes selon
1'objet auquel elle s'appliquait. II s'agit d'un texte qui se retrouve
presque identique dans deux livres tres differents, l'un le Denkart qui
est une espece de somme de theologie, l'autre le Nirangistan qui est le
plus pointilleux des rituels:

Ke yazisn i yazatan apegumdnih
i pat yazatan hastih i cis rd kunet
hdn yazatan frazand u.s gas pat
garotmdn.

Ke yazisn i yazatan hastih i yaza-
tan gumdnikih i pat cis rd kunet
hdn yazatan brat u.s gas pat
vahist.

Qui sacrifie aux dieux en raison
du non-doute en les dieux, et en
l'existence (certaine) de quelque
chose, est fils des dieux et son
lieu est le Garotmdn.
Qui sacrifie aux dieux en raison
de l'existence des dieux, avec un
doute quant a la chose, est frere
des dieux et son lieu est le
Vahist.

REFLEXIONS SUR ZURVAN

187

Ke yazisn i yazatan gumdnikih i
pat yazatan gumdnikih i pat cis
kunet hdn yazatan bandak u.s gas
pat hamestakdn.

Ke yazisn i yazatan pat anast-
menisnikih i yazatan pat nest
darisnih i cis kunet hdn yazatan
dusman u.s gas pat dosaxv.

Qui sacrifie aux dieux, avec doute
quant aux dieux et doute quant a
la chose, est serviteur des dieux
et son lieu est le Hamestakdn.

Qui sacrifie aux dieux avec
l'opinion que les dieux n'existent
pas, que les choses ne s'obtien-
nent pas, est ennemi des dieux et
son lieu est l'Enfer.

Nirangistan ed. Sanjanaf°194 b.
Denkart, ed. Madan p. 568
voir aussi Dhabhar, Riv. Horm. Fram. p. 406

L'efficacite des rites, c'est la question que se posaient les mazdeens
anxieux de savoir si leurs sacrifices parvenaient bien aux dieux, et qui
pour s'en assurer envoyerent outre-tombe au moyen d'un narco-
tique, leur frere Arta Viraf. C'est la meme question que se pose, en
definitive, le jeune Naciketas de la Katha Upanisad qui interroge la
Mort meme sur ce qui se passe apres cette vie, lui qui, nous dit le
debut de cet admirable texte, venait de recevoir le don de la foi au
moment ou l'on emmenait les dons rituels. Et nous savons que cet
acte de foi en Fefficacite des rituels est, dans la liturgie indienne,
exige au meme titre que F intention formelle de Faccomplir au debut
du sacrifice. Quelles monitions, quelles menaces pour ceux qui y
failliraient! Ce scrupule, cette pensee mauvaise qui vient interrompre
et fausser le cours de Factivite rituelle, la voici done transposee sur le
plan cosmique et cosmogonique, et c'est cette faille qui engendre
Fennemi, le malin. Ici comme ailleurs, le mythe repond au rite.

Terminons par un mot sur la destinee historique de Zurvan qui
acheve de le caracteriser comme un dieu non-createur, indetermine
par nature. On sait qu'il correspond, dans les versions iraniennes du
mythe manicheen, au Pere des Grandeurs. C'est, disent les historiens,
le dieu supreme, et ils en concluent que les Iraniens, aux debuts de la
dynastie sassanide et a tout le moins en Occident, Favaient egalement
pour dieu supreme, Ohrmazd ayant un rang inferieur, subalterne. En
realite ils ne sont pas, ils n'ont jamais ete sur le meme plan. Zurvan est
au dela du plan de la creation laquelle est devolue a Ohrmazd. Or pour
les manicheens, ni Fetre supreme n'est un dieu createur, ni le demiurge

ISO A LOCUST S LEG

n'est une divinite primordiale ou meme bonne. C'est pourquoi
Ohrmazd ne saurait tenir ce role non plus. II devient l'homme primor-
dial, qui, avant de triompher du mal, va en etre l'otage et se laisser
engloutir par le Prince des Tenebres. Zurvan, de toutes facons, reste
seul habilite a representer 1'inattaquable, l'immarcescible Pere des
Grandeurs, et c'est ainsi que le manicheisme, en respectant les differ-
ences de niveau entre divinites, a fait revivre un vieux mythe mazdeen
que le zoroastrisme avait digere et transformed II ne faut pas oublier
que quelque chose de semblable s'est produit dans le mazdeisme
quand Spenta Manyu est devenu createur au meme titre qu'Ohrmazd.

IBN FARlGHUN AND THE HUDUD AL-'ALAM

By V. MINORSKY

1
The short encyclopedia of human knowledge bearing the name of
Jazvdmi' al-uliim has attracted the attention of several Oriental and
European scholars. Speaking only of recent years, in 1950 Prof. H.
Ritter described two copies preserved in the libraries of Turkey. 1 In
1952 Prof. F. Rosenthal wrote with much interest of the historical
part of the Jawami' al-uliim. giving the author's name as "Ibn
Farightin" and dating his work from about the middle of the tenth
century. 2 A considerable step forward in identifying the author was
made by Dr. D. M. Dunlop in 1955. 3

Though several copies of the work are known in Egypt, the
Escorial Library and Turkey, the correct personal name of the author
is only approximately known. It is spelt l~*-i, 4 l y^ l , (_£■?*->• His
patronymic Gj*iJ,y.\ had been read as Ibn Furay'un, etc. until it was
fixed as Ibn Farighun, and thus immediately a link was established
between the author and the region of Gozgan, in eastern Khorasan 5
and now in northern Afghanistan.

In the title of his book the author is described as a pupil (tilmidh)
of Abu Zayd Ahmad b. Zayd (?!) al-Balkhi. Despite a divergence in

iH. Ritter, Philologica (XIII), in Oriens, 1950, III/l, pp. 83-5, No. 189.

2 See A history of Muslim historiography, 1952, pp. 32-4: "The work is a
comprehensive encyclopedia in tabular form, which is a remarkable arrange-
ment found in so early a period. The main topic in each case is written in large
letters. Thin lines lead from it to the detailed explanations which are written in
smaller letters and, as a rule, vertically".

3 The Gawami' al 'ulum of Ibn Farigun, in Z. V. Togan'a Armagan, Istanbul,
1955, pp. 348-53. For references to manuscripts see this article.

4 Which led Steinschneider to read it as Sha'yd and explain it as "Isaiah",
see Dunlop, p. 351. Though the capital of Gozgan bore formerly the name of
Jahudhan (now Maymana, see Hudud, ch. 23, §53), I do not think an alien would
call himself by a local princely patronymic.

5 Not "in the Turkish lands", as D. M. Dunlop says. Cf. below.

189

190 A LOCUST S LEG

the pedigree (Aij^l for J^-» ,y.\), probably due to the scribe, both
Ritter and Dunlop take this scholar for the well-known author of the
Suwar al-aqdlim, the geographical work re-edited and completed by
Istakhri. Balkhi died on 19 Dhul-qa'da 322/31 Oct. 934 at the age of
eighty-seven or eighty-eight. 1

As also indicated in the title of the Jawdmi' al-'uliim, the work
was presented to the amir Abii 'All Ahmad b. [Abi Bakr] Muhammad
b. al-Muzaffar, whom Dr. Dunlop has appropriately identified with
the well-known feudal lord of Chaghaniyan, who belonged to the
local dynasty of Al-i Muhtaj. In 329/940 Abii 'AH 2 succeeded his
father as the governor of Khorasan on behalf of the Samanids and
distinguished himself by brilliant operations in northern Persia where
he temporarily occupied Rayy. In 334/945 he was recalled by his
overlord, the Samanid Nuh ibn Nasr (331-43/943-54). Abu 'All
marched on Bukhara, captured it and proclaimed another amir. Then
he patched it up with Nuh and returned to his former governorship
but became involved in a series of intrigues with the Buyids and died
of the plague in Rayy on 10 Rajab 344/30 Oct. 955. His fief Chaghani-
yan lay north of the Oxus in the close neighbourhood both of Gozgan
and Balkh.

In dedicating his synoptic encyclopedia of sciences to Ahmad b.
Muhammad of Chaghaniyan the author followed in the steps of his
teacher, for Balkhi wrote a "Book of answers {kitab ajwiba) to Abii
'Ali al-Muhtaj", (as for the latter's father Abii Bakr b. al-Muzaffar
he wrote a treatise "On the limits (or scope? hudud) of Philosophy"). 3
It is equally noteworthy that, at the head of the list of Balkhi's works,
both the Fihrist and Yaqiit mention a Kitab aqsdm al-'ulum "The book
of classes of sciences". It seems unlikely that, in the lifetime of
Balkhi, his pupil could have dedicated to a member of the Muhtaj
family a work the title of which, Jawdmi 1 al-'ulum, suggests a theme

1 See de Goeje, Die Istachri-Balchi Frage, ZDMG, 1871, XXV, pp. 42-58,
and Barthold's Introduction to the Hudud al-'Alam, Engl, transl., p. 15. Cf.
below, note 3.

2 On him see Barthold in EI (1st ed.) under Ahmad b. Abi Bakr Muham-
mad and the detailed notes by M. Qazvini and M. Mo'in in the new edition of
the Chahdr-maqdla, Tehran 1333/1954, pp. 178-88. See also the information
which Miskawaih gives on "Ibn-Muhtaj", Eclipse, II, pp. 155-61. See now
B. Spuler, Caghdniydn in EP.

3 See the list of Balkhi's compositions in Fihrist, 138 (42 works), and more
completely in Yaqut, Irshdd al-arib, II, 142-3 (54 works).

IBN FARIGHUN AND THE HUDUD AL- ALAM

191

very close to the contents of the Aqsdm al-'ulum. Therefore we might
assume that the Jawdmi'' al-'ulum was written at a period after the
death of Balkhi (in 322/934) and before that of Ahmad b. Muhammad
(344/955).

These hints at the background of Ibn Farighun are sufficiently
conclusive. If his personal name still awaits decipherment, it may be
because the scribes were embarrassed by some local Iranian appella-
tion. Even now the name of Ibn Sina remains unexplained! The name
Farighun belongs to the older Iranian stock of the Oxus basin (see
below). It was used exclusively in the family of the rulers of Gozgan,
known collectively as Al-i Farighun and individually as Ibn Farigkiin.
With some overstatement F. Rosenthal affirms that Farighun "is
quite a common Iranian name" and points to a traditionalist men-
tioned by Ibn al-Jauzi, al-Muntazam, X, 64. But the man mentioned
there was not "Farighun" but Muhammad b. Ahmad Ibn Farighun,
the latter name being probably used not as the name of his grandfather,
but as a kind of family name (similarly to Ibn Muhtaj). Besides, he
died in 536/1141, i.e. 128 years after the Ghaznavids had annexed
Gozgan in 408/1017. His nisba was al-Afrani al-Nasafi, and he died
in his country, i.e. in the region of Nakhshab, lying north-west of
Chaghaniyan and also across the river from Gozgan. It is quite
possible that he was a native of Gozgan and claimed his origin from
its noble family. On stronger reasons the author of the Jawdmi' who
wrote in the early tenth century A.D. might be suspected of being a
scion of the ruling house, or of one of its lateral branches. It is hard to
imagine a commoner calling himself Ibn Farighun at a time when the
Banii Farighun were still ruling.

The authorship of the Hudud al-'Alam remains a total puzzle. The
texts and books of reference which have been examined up to the
present contain no mention of this remarkable and systematic
geography of the World; no shade of influence of the Hudud on later
geographical literature has been as yet discovered. In his Introduction
(f. lb) the author says: "owing to the glory, victoriousness and
auspiciousness of the Amir Lord (al-sayyid) Malik the Just Abul-
Harith Muhammad b. Ahmad, client of the Commander of the
Faithful, may God prolong his existence, and owing to the felicity of
his days, we have begun this book about the properties (sifdt) of the

192 A LOCUST S LEG

Earth in the year 372 of the flight of the Prophet, on whom be God's
blessings". The year corresponds to A.D. 982 and the dedicatee is
undoubtedly the contemporary ruler of Gozganan (Gozgan, Juzjan),
i.e. of the region situated between the two eastern "quarters" of
ancient Khorasan, namely Marv and Balkh.

Unlike Mas'iidi, Ibn Hauqal or Muqaddasi, the author was no
traveller and his work is only a compilation from other sources and
reports, with the exception of the territory of Gozgan and its depend-
encies 1 which he describes with unusual competence.

The identity of the patron was established soon after the dis-
covery of the unique copy of the Hudud i in 1892 (see Preface to my
translation). I remember how in 1922, when the MS. happened to be
on my desk in Paris, our unforgettable friend Muhammad-khan
Qazvini eagerly turned its pages and spotting the description of
Gozgan exclaimed: "The book was composed there!" In fact the
author must have been a long-time resident of Gozgan, nay even a
native of it.

The book is a masterpiece of precis writing and bears witness to
the great experience of the author. His restraint from using fulsome
honorifics is noticeable. While speaking with sympathy of Transox-
iana "where justice and equity reign", he refers to its Samanid ruler,
the suzerain of Gozgan simply as "King of the East" {malik-i mashriq).
Speaking of the ruler of Gozgan he describes him only as one of the
"margraves" (muliik-i atraf) who "in Khorasan is known as malik-i
Gozganan" (f. 20b). The pedigree of the patron stops at the name of
his father, though he is called "a descendant of Afridhiin (dj^ij^)"
which is possibly the scribe's slip for Afrighun (dj*ij\), an alternate
form of Farighun (jj-ij^s). 3

1 Cf. also his paragraphs on Chaghaniyan (transl. p. 114). The description
of Gilan is original and detailed but it may be based on the reports of the
intelligence service of the Samanids at the time of their struggle with the
Buyids for possession of Rayy.

2 At that time usually known as "MS. Toumansky".

3 As already mentioned this name is most likely connected with the lore of
the Oxus basin. Biruni, al-Athdr, p. 35, mentions Afrigh, the founder of the
Khwarazmian dynasty, who built the castle of Fir in the year 616 of the Alex-
andrine era (A.D. 305). Arfhanmukh, the tenth shah of the dynasty was a con-
temporary of the Prophet of Islam. In 93/712 the fourteenth shah invited the
Arabs to help him against his rebel brother. As a result the power of the dynasty
was reduced but they continued to bear their title until the 22nd of them, Abu
'Abdillah Muhammad, was murdered in 385/995 (he was the fifth to bear an

IBN FARIGHUN AND THE HUDUD AL- ALAM

193

The title of the book cannot be interpreted as "the limits of the
World", but rather as a complex of boundaries within which the
countries are contained. Thus the world is presented as a system of
compartments the frontiers of which, according to the four points of
the compass: East, North, West and South, are enumerated at the
head of each chapter.

In my commentary to the Hudiid I have tried to ascertain the
sources from which about one thousand names, or groups of names,
were derived. My collation with other contemporary geographic texts
has brought me to the conclusion that, apart from the akhbar (intelli-
gence information) 1 the author's main sources were:

(a) I. Khurdadhbih's Masalik wal-mamalik, probably in a more
complete form than the abridgment published in de Goeje's edition;

(b) the unknown book, which was also used by I. Rusta, Gardizi,
Sharaf al-din Tahir al-Marvazi 2 etc., and which seems to be the now
lost work of Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Jayhani (earlier
part of the tenth century A.D.). 3 It must be noted that, according to
a somewhat mischievous remark of Muqaddasi, p. 241, JayhanI
incorporated in his book the whole of the original work of I. Khur-
dadhbih — of course apart from his own valuable information.

(c) I wrote in 1937, p. XVIII: "Istakhri (<BalkhI) is without
doubt the source most systematically utilised in the Hudud" . Balkhi's
work is now lost but it may have already contained most of the names
quoted in the Hudiid; on the other hand, copies of Istakhri's re-edition
of Balkhi were bound to be spread in Khorasan because it was known
that it was an improvement on the familiar work of a local scholar.

(d) A very important detail of the composition is that the author
(ff. 5b, 8b, 25b, 33b, 37a) refers to a Map (swat) which he prepared and

Islamic name), see Sachau, Zur Geschichte v. Khwdrizm, pp. 499-501. Barthold,
Hudud, p. 6, points out that the Farighunids appear on the stage about the time
of the Samanid struggles with the Saffarids (end of the ninth century), i.e. at the
time when the rule of the Afrighids was limited and waning. A connection of the
Farighunids with the dynasty of Khwarazm is not unlikely. Unfortunately, the
report of the Hudiid on the Khwarazm is very brief (ch. 26, §21).

1 See Gozgan, Gilan, etc. However the term akhbar (see my translation
pp. 55, 79, 83), is rather loosely used by the author with reference to written
materials, or to what he had heard (shantdim).

2 See my edition of his passages on China, the Turks and India, 1942,
pp. 6-8.

3 He is mentioned among the patrons of Balkhi, see Yaqut, Irshdd al-arib,
II, 141.

i 9 4

A LOCUST S LEG

on which a few places seem to have been indicated which are omitted in
the text (cf. chapter 26, §20). Moreover, I have suggested that the order
in which some series of names are mentioned in the text (for example
in India) can be explained by the fact that the author was reading them
off his Map (and not grouping them in their natural sequence). It is
known that Balkhi's text was likewise an explanation of a Map. 1

Summing up our remarks on the Jawdmi' and the Hudud we can say-
that:

1. The name of Ibn Farighun and his connections clearly point
to the region of Gozgan. Similarly both the dedication of the Hudud
and the particular competence of its author refer to the same region.

2. The periods of the activity of the two authors are not in
opposition. Even if the author of the Jawdmi' was born in the begin-
ning of the fourth/tenth century he must have been in his sixties
when the composition of the Hudud was begun in 372/982.

3. The striking patronymic of "Ibn Farighun", as we have tried
to explain, suggests some relationship between him and the ruling
house of Gozgan. On the other side, we can use only the slender
argument concerning the restraint noticeable in the dedication of the
Hudud. We have to admit that the works of the great authors of the
early Khorasanian days look freer from the fulsome flattery of later
times. 2 In any case the introduction of the Hudud is particularly
sober and contains no sign of any expectation of largesse. Its tone is
not that of a dependent commoner, but of a man conscious of his
position in society.

1 In the lists of al-Fihrist, p. 138, line 24, and in Yaqut, op. cit., the
geographical work of Balkhl is referred to as Tafsir suivar kitdb al-samd' wal-
'dlam li-Abt-Ja'far al-Khdzin, "Explanation of the images of the Heaven and
the World in the book of Abu Ja'far al-Khazin". For the sake of simplicity the
book has been called Suwar al-aqdlim "Images (i.e. Maps) of the Climes". On
Balkhl-Istakhrl-I. Hauqal see now a summary in the comprehensive (919 pp.)
posthumous work of Prof. I. Y. Kratchkovsky, Arabskaya geograficheskaya
literatura, forming vol. IV of his "Selected works", Moscow 1957. See especially
pp. 194-218: "the classical school of the tenth century geographers".

2 See the introduction of the final version of the Shdh-ndmeh, the dedica-
tion of Biruni's al-Athdr al-bdqiya to the Ziyarid Shams al-ma'all (p. 362 of
Sachau's edition), etc. [More florid are the formulas used by BIruni in his later
work, the Kitdb al-jamdhir, dedicated to the Ghaznavid Maudud (432-40/
1041-8), ed. F. Krenkow, 1335/1936, pp. 31, 267.]

IBN FARIGHUN AND THE HUDUD AL- ALAM

195

4. It is risky to compare the styles of the two books written in
different languages, especially as the text of the Arabic work is quite
insufficiently known from a few quotations. One might notice only the
similar trend of mind of the two authors who endeavoured to render
their subjects as far as possible digestible to their readers by using
the method of synoptic tables of tashjir, or by a Map accompanied
by a brief and clear description of the "compartments" of the world.

5. The Jawdmi 1 is written in Arabic, the international language
of the time; therefore it has survived in several copies, of which the
oldest, written in 393/1002, i.e. 21 years after the composition of the
Hudud, has emerged so far West as the Escorial library. The Hudud is
one of the oldest works composed in modern Persian, earlier than the
Shdh-ndmeh. The change of language from Arabic to Persian might
be a token of the new literary tendencies encouraged under the
Samanids. It would be no wonder if the local writer, who in the early
part of the fourth/tenth century cultivated his Arabic, had followed
the fashion of the time in a later composition of his. The novelty of the
enterprise may have been responsible for the survival of only one copy
of the Hudud, found in Bukhara. Even so, it has been more fortunate
than the divan of the famous Rudaki which has come down to us only
in quotations.

6. Strangely enough, Ibn Farighun forgot to mention Geo-
graphy in his "ramifications" {tashjir) of the Tree of useful know-
ledge, although it was impossible for him not to know that among the
works of his teacher (who died in 322/934) there was the important
Suwar al-aqdlim which, about the middle of the fourth/tenth century,
was so eagerly re-edited and completed by Istakhri and Ibn Hauqal.
The Jawdmi' was a presentation volume composed ad hoc for Ibn
Muhtaj, and as the tabulating of geography required a long prepara-
tion of the illustrative Map, it was perhaps advisable for a time to
leave Geography out of the picture; 1 in later years the Map in-
herited from Balkhi may have stimulated the desire to write for the
Farighunid of Gozgan a book on a subject left out of the work
dedicated to Ibn Muhtaj. 2

1 Thus according to the list of contents of the Jawdmi', as quoted by Ritter
and Rosenthal, and as confirmed to me by Dr. Dunlop in a private letter of
23 February 1961.

2 The size of a treatise like the Hudud, namely 39 closely written folios,
might have increased by a half the size of Ibn Farighun's encyclopedia (the two
MSS. described by Ritter contain respectively 86 and 80 folios).

i 9 6

A LOCUST S LEG

Such are the comparisons and considerations in favour of the assump-
tion that the author of the Jawami al-'idum and the author of the
Hudiid may be identical, but the arguments quoted are certainly
indirect. Our aim has been only to indicate the direction in which
future research may work. A Russian proverb says: "the game comes
a-running towards an expert hunter", and, should there be any truth
in our surmise, the hunters will be on the alert. If such an outstanding
monument of the late twelfth century as the minaret of Jam, standing
but a few miles off the main road following the Hari-rud, was dis-
covered only in 1957, 1 written sources throwing light on two in-
teresting and isolated works may be lying somewhere close at hand.
The task of discovering them should fall to the lot of the younger
generation of scholars.

1 See A. Maricq, he minaret de Djam, 1959.

HURAXS

By M. MO'IN

Jamal al-Dln Husein, the author of the Persian Dictionary entitled
Farhang-i Jahangiri (written in 1005-17 H./A.D. 1596-1609),
Muhammad Husein Burhan-i Tabriz!, in his Burhdn-i Qdti' (written
in 1062 H./A.D. 1651-2), 'Abd-al-Rasid Tatavi, the author of
another Persian Dictionary entitled Farhang-i Rasldi (written in 1077
H./A.D. 1666) have considered the word Huraxs an equivalent for
"the sun". The authors of later dictionaries like Steingass, Vullers,
and Nazim al-Atibba' have followed them. But, unfortunately, none
of these authors has indicated his source.

During the Islamic period, as far as we know, the first person to
mention Huraxs was Sayx Sihab al-Dln Suhrawardi (549-87 H./A.D.
1154-91). Suhrawardi is the founder of the philosophical school
entitled Isrdq (philosophy of "illumination" or, according to Prof. H.
Corbin, "la theosophie de l'Orient des Lumieres").

Reflecting ancient Iranian thought and beliefs in his works, 1
Suhrawardi has used the word several times:

1. He says in Hikmat al-Isrdq 2 : "... know that . . . the king of
the heavenly sagacious lights and of their power reaches the spheres
by means of the stars; and thence the powers come into existence. A
star is as a part of the sovereign absolute, Huraxs, which is the
talisman of Sahrir (Sahrivar), the light of strong brilliance, the cause
of the day, the sovereign of the Heavens; homage to whom is necessary
in the tradition of 'Illumination' ".

2. Further in his Kitab al-Masdri' val-Mutdrikdt, 3 describing

1 Cf. Henry Corbin, Oeuvres philosophiques et mystiques de Shihabaddin
Yahya Suhrawardi, Teheran, 1952; Moh. Mo'in, Philosophy of Illumination and
the ancient Iranian Culture, Tehran, 1950.

2 Henry Corbin, ibid., p. 149.

8 Sihabaddin Yahya as-Suhrawardi, Opera Metaphysica et Mystica, ed.
H. Corbin, Vol. 1, Istanbul, 1945, p. 494.

197

198 A locust's leg

the appearance of mysteries, he writes: "Sometimes the person spoken
to becomes visible in a heavenly shape or in the shape of the heavenly
great ones; and the threshold of reputable rapture in the world of
Hawarqelyd 1 is for the great sovereign Huraxs, the greatest among the
glorified corporeal beings, the supreme image of God according to
the 'Illumination' . . .".

Commenting on this work, Sahrazurl (6th-7th century H./13th
century A.D.) and Qutb al-DIn SirazI (634-710 H./A.D. 1236-1311)
explained: "It is the name of the sun in Pahlavi". 2

Sadr al-DIn SirazI (died in 1050 H./A.D. 1640) in his Comments
on the co?nmentary on Hikmat al-Isrdq 3 remarks that SuhrawardI had
a prayer for every day of the week, and the Sunday prayer was that in
which he mentioned Raxs (a corruption from Huraxs or Uraxs).

According to these statements, it is clear that the lexicographers
were right in attributing the meaning "sun" to the word.

Etymology: For the etymology of the word, the following sugges-
tions have been made:

1. Huraxs to be derived from Avestan hvard.xsaeta "sun".
Prof. H. Corbin was the first to suggest this etymology in his critical
edition of Hikmat al-Isrdq i and in his work entitled "Terre celeste et
corps de Resurrection . . .". 5 Dr. Z. Safa, in his Literary History of
Persia, 6 accepted it. The difficulty here is the fact that Av. xsaeta
changes into set in Pahlavi, sed and sid in Persian, and that Av.
hvard.xsaeta itself becomes xwarxset in Pahlavi, xwarsed and xursid in
Persian.

2. Huraxs composed of prefix hu- "good" and ruxs /raxs "bright,
shining"'; the compound thus meaning "beautifully bright", as an
attribute of the sun; it being pointed out that the word was used in
this sense in the "Prayer of Huraxs", which is addressed to the
sun: "Thou art the strong Huraxs". This etymology has been pro-
posed by Prof. Poure-Davoud; Prof. W. B. Henning points out that
the length of the first vowel of huraxs renders difficult a derivation
from the Old Iranian prefix hu-, which had a short vowel.

1 Cf. M. Mo'in, Majalle-i DdniSkade-yi Adabiyyat, I, 3, pp. 78 sqq.

2 Cf. Corbin, Oeuvres phil., p. 149, note Huraxs.

3 P. 357.

4 P. 149 n.

6 Zurich, 1954, p. 171, no. 33.

6 Vol. II, Tehran, 1336 H., p. 304.

7 Cf. raxs in Persian dictionaries.

HURAXS

199

3. Prof. Benveniste suggests that the origin may be hvdraoxsan,
which means "shining or luminous by itself".

4. The original word may have been Hdr-raxs, composed of
Persian hur (Av. hvara) "sun" and raxs/ruxs (cf. Av. raoxsna, etc.)
"shining, luminous". In accord with Persian grammar one r was
dropped from Hdr-raxs. This etymology, according to which the
word may have been a fairly recent creation, is accepted by Prof.
Henning. In Persian literature, the sun is mentioned frequently with
attributes meaning "shining, bright"; e.g., Firdawsi says in the
Sahnama:

^r-Lc $3* L j .Sj bbS -U£ J>jj (Vhj 77" eJJL^-j X.Jo^jji. ul-,-vlj3l j*
3 i_iL^i j J OjJ «_/j' i_~>i J~»\ j^> t— jI j 3 tjU~=-j -^"j_j^- i^j " *J

For this usage there are sufficient examples already in the Avesta, as
hvard raoxsne and hvara raoco in Yasht 6, 1, and indeed the compound
hvard.xsaeta as understood by many scholars.

We read in the Arabic pamphlet entitled Al-Dastur wa da'wat
al-mu'minin lil-hudur " l _yU^~j\ Uraxs, the king of the planets, and the
source of intelligence, understanding and life, the ruler of the country
and the governors, the source of nights and days, and the cause of
seasons". 5

Two Prayers. There exists a collection of pamphlets belonging to
Sayid Muhammad Miskat, Professor of Tehran University, which
contains 30 pamphlets written in different languages; at one time it
belonged to Axund Mulla Muhammad Salih al-KIraml, the famous
scholar of Safavid times. 6 A number of learned men have written
remarks on the pages of these pamphlets, which include Kalimdt

1 Beruxlm edition, vol. 7, p. 2154.

2 ibid., vol. 7, p. 2174.

3 ibid., vol. 2, p. 398.
i ibid., vol. 1, p. 263.

5 Cf. Arba'a rasd'il-i Isma'iliya, annotated by 'Arif Tamir, p.
According to p. 179 of the MS.

200

A LOCUST S LEG

al-Tasazowuf by Suhrawardi, I6bdt-i Jawhar-i Mujarrad and Idbdt-i
wajib by Nasir al-DIn Tusi. The thirteenth pamphlet is named
Huraxs and contains two prayers called Hiiraxs-ikabir ("the great H.")
and Huraxs-i sayir ("the small H."), the second being an epitome of
the first. We bring here the Arabic text of the chief prayer, together
with a translation:

■ml ..^L. (jAJ^I i_-~TjiOlj (^Vl u^jtiJIj j_^^l jtUI (jpJIj S*^>l
JlkJI (JjiVl jLJIj (fjic'ifl j<dl y .AiTjjj «u"'C*J 4M Jl^
(Jj3-I lJjJ /J© c^j-dl ( "*53j S5^s* ajjU Jd^. ij^- ti ii_>^l f **JUi

j*U f tfJlill JjJ-£JI LJ ia.jjjt> l^JI . <UJiuJ.I i5jJ-lj iU^iJIj l)j5JIj
(l >JUdl «.l^l j- y*iJall ^jl J^"l <tpl»ll ^Xi-I J.UJI tj *\ji\

uj Ml UJ

«j|^JI d()iJI (jj < -^_A" ,i -'^- l3j-* (y>3 ' ^Jji-3 ^J-»i jj-J o\^w

111 U. , HI

l_-j>.1*s> f^J^JI s^' W du ^«' • ^_)J d 5 ^' i"^" J*"J iJJ ' -^J-?- 1

|j ij dJiVijw j dixLcj iJUl < SijUUI iiLLJI di^ii tj^i Ja^ib (JUiJ

ul W e

^Ul 3^J=Jlj _ >rr i^JI (j£ c(^_7>!l -^J-^JI 1 Ixj JjJ^AJI (Jlj^JI IjJU^O

Jjl fJLJI ljr ^ figJ^I -Ulj a^JI IJ5Gb ja Jt^o ( Jj^l -^^1

HURAXS

201

fr, J^r_s *j_jWI JjL^iJIj a^J^I |»ji*Jlj V-J.5JI ^.IjiJU L5 *Jj jyj
L'jJI j ^j5Cj tjlj a^j'^JIj ^iJI oUVI ^ Lf ;,», y -i « ,ij *JI qJ^ZM

iji.%

The Great Huraxs
"In the name of omnipotent God. Greeting to the very resplendent
rational everlasting one, the most manifest person, the brightest star!
The salutation of God the exalted, His greetings and His blessings to
thee! Oh greater luminary, most noble planet, rising for thy inventor,
moving in the love of thy creator's glory by the movement of thy
sphere!

"Thou art far from undergoing laceration, generation, corruption
and direct movement. Thou art the strong and victorious Huraxs, the
vanquisher of the dark, the sovereign of the world, the king of angels,
the master of celestial beings, the creator of the day by God's order,
the proprietor of the incarnate lights of existence by the power of the
obeyed God, the luminous matter, the shining bright one, the learned
scholarly philosopher, the greatest sacred son of the corporeal lights,
the successor of the light of lights in the material world.

"Thy light is taken from the light which leads to His light, and
thy violence is taken from the violence which leads to His violence.
Thou art the example of His grandeur, and the pattern of the patterns
of His glory, and His evidence to His creatures.

"He who is granted a share of thy light, shall shine among the
substances, and he who receives prosperity from thee by God's
might, shall be prosperous. Thou givest thy light to the stars, but
thou never takest from them; thou givest them from thy glory and
illumination. Glorious is the one who grants thee light and lustre,
who, by the power of the radiancy of his splendour, has moved thee
and has caused thy circulation in the fourth sphere, and who has
established thee in the middle of the universal system.

"Oh sacred father, owner of sovereignty and awe, possessor of
complete powers, cause of the alternation of day and night and the
pursuit of seasons! I beg thee to ask the spreader of the light of thy
illuminating reasonable spirit, thy father, thy cause, thy beloved
and the origin of thy movement, the one whose shadow and talisman
thou art; (and I beg) all the victorious lights and immaterial minds to

202

A LOCUST S LEG

make a request fit for the eternal world, which is beyond modification
and renovation, to their father, their cause and their beloved, the
nearest light, the most noble inventor, the universal logos, the greater
first effect, so that he might beg his God and God of gods, the end of
causes, the first of the first ones, the regulator of the worlds, the
universal inventor, the self-existing one, the light of lights, the God of
all the minds, spirits, ethereal and elemental, single and compound
bodies according to the most complete and perfect system, the single
God, the one self-existent by his sovereignty (here they have to make
their request, e.g.): to make my spirit illuminated by the sacred
resplendency and the divine sciences and heavenly virtues, to make
me one of his devotees, to protect me from spiritual and bodily calami-
ties, and to honour me in this World and the next."

This prayer deserves consideration from several points of view:

1. We may trace here the effects of the Zoroastrian and Mithraist
religions.

2. We may compare it with the sayings of the authors of the
pamphlets of Ixwan al-Safa (the Brothers of Purity). 1

3. We may compare it with the writings on alchemy and related
subjects, for example with the prayer addressed to the sun mentioned
by Muhammad, the son of Mahmiid Amull, in his work entitled
Nafa'is al-funiiti, 2 where the author explains slmiyd (enchantment).

1 Cf. Rasa'ilu Ixwan al-Safa, ed. Xair-al-Din Zarkali, part 4, Cairo, 1347,
pp. 260-2.

2 Tehran edition, 1309 H., part 2, p. 117.

FEMININE NOUNS IN -A IN WESTERN
IRANIAN DIALECTS

By GEORG MORGENSTIERNE

Old Ir. -a, characterizing the most important class of feminine
nouns, was, together with other final vowels in polysyllabic words,
dropped already in the W. Middle Ir. languages. It was, however,
retained in Khotanese, Sogdian and Khorasmian. We also still find a
final -a (-«, -6) in E. Ir. languages, such as Pashto, Munji-Yidgha and,
with some modifications, in W. Ossete.

In modern W. Ir. Henning 1 has drawn attention to the retention
of fern, -a/ a in Takistani, and he compares Tak. vara humid "snow
fell" with Semn. vara biamia, where "both the noun and the verb
have fern, endings". Recently Yarshater 2 has dealt with corresponding
features in the Tati dialect of Kajal (thus, e.g. karg-a bomia "the hen
came"), and I have 3 tried to show that also Sivandi has retained a
distinction of gender in various ways, i.a. also by having fern, nouns in
unstressed -d/e. Thus, e.g., b'dza "she-goat", but bds'd "kid". Such
feminines are found also in the dialects of S. Tat closely related to
Tak. 4 as well as in Ashtiyani and the neighbouring dialects of Vafs,
Kahak and Amore. 5

Dr. Kiya has, in a letter, drawn my attention to the difference of
stress between Asht. 'ua fem. "water"; v'arfa fern, "snow", and
kiy'a masc. "house". And Dr. Yarshater writes about Kajali: 6 "In

1 The Ancient Language of Azerbaijan, Trans. Phil. Soc, 1954, p. 161.

2 BSOAS, XXIII, 1960, pp. 279 sqq.

3 Stray Notes on Persian Dialects, NTS, XIX, pp. 137 sqq.

4 Viz. those of Ishtaherd, Bermova (Ibrahimabad) and Sezgowa (Sagzabad),
cf. Jalal-i Al Ahmad, Tat-nisinha-yi buluk-i Zahra, Tehran, A.H. 1337.— The
Tak. words have been taken from my own notations.

5 V. Dr. Sadiq Kiya, Guyis-i Astiyan, Tehr., A.H. 1335 (with indication of
fem. gender), and Prof. M. Moghdam, Guyisha-yi Vafs u. Astiyan u Tafris
(Iran-Kude, 11).

Op. cit., p. 279, note 2.

203

204

A LOCUST S LEG

these examples (xasor l a "wife's father", etc.) -a, unlike the fern,
ending, is stressed". In Semnani we find, e.g., vHa fern, "willow" (and
also pHa "father"), but ki'a "house" < *kataka-. Cf., from Sivandi
b'dza "she-goat", but bdz'd "kid" (diminutive in -a < -aka). In
Siv. h'dmile "pregnant", < Ar.-Prs., the accent has been adapted to
the general system of the dialect. 1

But I believe that a fern, -a/e can be traced, sporadically, also in
some dialects of the Kashan-Isfahan region. Our material is, however,
deficient and sometimes, apparently, contradictory. Where stress is
not noted, it is also, in some cases, difficult to decide whether a
certain word is a fern., or of the type going back to ancient -aka, like
Prs. bande. Besides, some of the dialects in question possess, according
to Mann-Hadank 2 an enclitic "determinative" -a, which may lead us
astray. But, at any rate, these possible relics in Central Dialects ought
to be investigated without delay. Very probably such forms may now
be restricted to the older generation of dialect speakers.

It may, I believe, not be without interest to give a list of probable
feminines in -a/e in W. Ir. I shall restrict myself to words found in
more than one group of dialects, or whose gender is supported by
evidence from E. Ir., etc. Thus words recorded only in one of the
groups (Semn.; S. Tat; Vafsi-Ashtiyani; Siv.; Kash.-Isf.) will not be
included. 3 Just as is the case in E. Ir., a few originally collective
plurals have probably been transferred to the category of fern, sing. 4

Almond: Veimd T.; °a Sg.B.Kah.; vama A.; °mma Am.; °ioa V.;
veyam{e) Siv.; but vera Semn.

Anus: Fena B.Sg.; funa Kah.; ofna Am.; kuna A.V.; kt'ene Siv.
■ — Psht. kuna.

Apple: Asife (Henning asif) T., °a B.; asua Sg.; siya A.V.;
°e Kah.; soa Am.; sow(e) Siv.

Ass: Hara Kaj.; xar(d) Semn.; °a B.Sg.A.; cf. nara-xara A.
(fern.!) he-ass.

1 Note that Psht. has as well stressed as unstressed -a in feminines.

2 Kurd.-pers. Forschungen, III, 1, pp. 10, 126, 239.

3 Talc, words in -e not given in the following list are: 'dnge "bee"; ma-gave
"cow"; maye "mother"; sulake "apricot"; veldvune "hamvare (level ground ?)".

4 The following abbreviations are used: Am(orei); A(shtiyani); Bal(ochi);
B(ermowa); Far(izandi); Gur(ani); I(shtaherdi); J(awshaqani); Kah(aki);
Kaj(ali); Mah(allati); Mei(mei); M(un)j(i); Nat(anzi); Orm(uri); Par(achi);
Q(ohrudi); Semn(ani); S(ez)g(owa); Sh(u)gh(ni); Siv(andi); T(akistani); V(afsi);
Von(ishuni); Yar(ani); Y(i)d(gha); Z(aza). — In W. Ir. I write c, j for c, j.

FEMININE NOUNS IN WESTERN IRANIAN

205

Bag, sack: Amb'ima Semn.; amb° Sg., enb° I.; ambana B.; amb° A.;
hambane Mei.

Belly: Tola Semn.; tela A.

Blood: Xuna A.; fine Siv.; x'tlnd Nat. (Mann).— Psht. wlna;
Kurd, xun fern.

Broom: so/o/izda B.Sg.V.; cf. also ri'und Semn.

Clay: G'ele Kah. Siv.

Co-wife: X'uye T.; xava A.; hava V.

Daughter: D'uta Semn.; titt, tete (Henn. titlye) T.; teteya I.;
titia B.Sg.; deta A.Kah.; °e Siv.; dot(d) Far.; °e Yar.; d'ute Q.Keshe,
Zefre; °a Nat.; d'ete Von.; ditlye Mah.

Daughter-in-law; Bride: Vdye T.; vaya I.; veya B.Sg.; vitoa V.

Dust: Gorda V.A.Kah.; garde Siv. g'a° Soi.

Eleagnus: Sergio. B.Sg.; sinjiya A.Kah.Am.; s° V.— Psht. sonzola.

Fig: Anjila Sg.; °e A.; anjlre Siv.

Finger: Augusta B.Sg.; engosda A. (Kia; engost Mogh.); angoste
V.; ong° Am.; g'use Siv.— Psht. guta; Yd. ogusco; Z.bij. angist fem.

Fist: Mesta V.; mosda A.; °ta Am.— Mj. moskio fem.

Flea: Keka V.; °ka A.Kah.Am.; k'dke Siv.— Z.bij. kdk fem.

Flower: Vela Semn.B.Sg.V.Kah.Am.; °e T.Siv.— Av. varoSd.

Fly: Magdze T.; maqasa Am.A. (Kia; maqos Mogh.); messa V.;
niasa(< *my-l cf. Sherani Psht. nyasai mosquito < my-) B.Sg. — Yd.
moyuso; Shgh. majas < *makasd.

Goat: Boza Semn.A. (Kia); be T.Sg.B.V.Am.A.(Mogh.); b'eze
Siv.; b'iiza Soi. — Psht. vza; Shgh. vaz < *buzd.

Gourd: Kadua B.; ce° Sg.; koduva I.; °ua A.; °uwa V.; kodoa Am.;
°e Kah.

Grape: Ang'ir(a) Semn.; angiire T.; °erra B.Sg.; engura A.(Kia);
ang° V.Am.; ingure Kah. ang'ire Siv. — Yd. agidro.

Hail: Tiyerga Semn.; tiarsa B.Sg.; Ursa, terse V.; tiyarsa Am.;
tiyarga A. (Kia).

Heap of grain: Rasa B.Sg. — Psht. riyasa.

Hen: Karga Semn.B.Kaj.A.Kah.Am.; kd° V.A.; ca° Sg.; k'a°
Nat.; k'arg(e) Q.; k'arge Soi (Mann; karg HSch.); kdrge Nat. (Polak).
Cf. mare Siv. — Psht. cirga.

Hole: Hola A. °lla V.; hole Mei. {hoi fem. J.); ftile Siv.

Husband's sister: Vesita Sg.; fesida B.; vHsite T.V.— Etymology
unknown. A reconstruction < *vi/abi—six/ftd gives no useful
associations.

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A LOCUST S LEG

Irrigation channel: Jua Semn.B.Sg.A.; joa Am.; j'ue Siv.; cf.
hiVe T. — Psht. jowa (loan-word); O.Prs. yauviyd.

Knife: Kdrda A.; k'drde Siv. — Psht. card; Orm. kali; Z. kdrdi;
Kurd, kerd fern., etc., point to *kartyd.

Locust: Malaga V.; °qqa; meldqqa A. (Kia). — Av. maSaxd.
Louse: Esbez{a) Semn.; isbije T.; esbeja Sg.Kah.Am.; sebeja B.;
esbeza A.V.; p'ese Siv. — Psht. spaga; Shgh. Sdpay < *spisd.
Millet: G'orse T. — Yd. yavarso. But note Prs. gdvars(e).
Needle: Darzena B.Sg.; flV c A.(Kia; derzen Mogh.).
Night: Soma B.Sg.; sava/e A.; sozoa Am.; souiv{e) Siv.; sawa Nat.
(Mann), rae (Polak). But Saw Semn., sow V. — Psht. spa.

Nose: Vani{&) Semn.; venia B.Sg.; viniya V.A. Am. — Av. vaend.
Partridge: Kowga V.A. (Kia, Mogh.); °ka Am.; kowka Kah.;
^'otij-e Siv.; k'aukd Soi (Mann), aaage (Andreas), qewy (HSch.)

Pea: Nax'uye T.; noxuya Sg.; naxna B.; naxowe V.; noxiya A.;
noxue Kah.; noxowa Am. — Z. bij. nah'di fern.
Pear: Ombereya I. — Yd. obriio.

Plain, steppe: Daft/a A. (Kia); d'alte Siv.; a&fre Soi. — Gur.kand.
^dft fern.

Plum: Alova B.; gow-aleva Sg.; afezua V.A. Kah.; a/tya Am.
Pregnant: Owire Mei.; aaj'zVe Soi (HSch.).

Road: Rdha B.Sg.; rda A. (Kia). — Semn. rey fern.; Psht. Zar(fl)
fem.; Z.kor. ri(yd) (?).

Rue: Esbanda (Mogh.). — Psht. spdnda; Oroshori sepdn < *spanta.
Salt: Namaka B.A.; nemaka Am.; °c# Sg. — Psht. mdlga; Sarikoli
namaSj.

Sheep (fern.): Misa Semn.B.Sg.V.A.; °e T.Kah.— Shgh. may.
Shovel: X'uye T. (=x'uye co-wife); °a I.Sg.; xoya B. — Shgh.
fay < *fiyd; Psht. waziri xzvai(ye) fem., but Psht. xwai; Yd. /fa masc.
Sister: Xudka Semn.; xake T.; °a B.V.Kah.; °ca Sg.; xo/uwdka
A.(Kia); xuwdxa Am.

Snare: Duma I; ^a>«<z A. — Psht. luma.

Snow: Ffl7'(«) Semn.; °a T.; /«r/fl B.Sg.; /a° V.; ro° A.; war/a
Kah. Am.; varfe Siv. — Psht. wdzvra.

Spade: S«7e T.; °a Sg.A.(Kia)Am.; bara B.; 6a>a I.; JaAra V.A.
(Mogh.); bala Afdari. — But some of the forms may perhaps be masc.
Spindle: Dika Semn.; devka B.; duka A.(Kia); dike Siv.
Tear: Arse T.; arsa B.Sg.; aska A.; asle Soi. — Psht. oAa.
Tree: Ddra Semn. B.Sg.; espi-ddre Siv. poplar. — Kurd, ddr fem.

FEMININE NOUNS IN WESTERN IRANIAN

207

Tree (willow, etc.): Vena-ddra Semn. willow; v'ane Siv. tree;
bena Nat. (Polak) tree, but Q. ben'a. — Psht. wana; Shgh. wan < *wand.

Vein: Ria Semn.; riya V.A. (Mogh.; rega Kia) Kah.; raga Am.;
rage Siv. — Yd. rfyo.

Vine: Miva B.; ?nz'«ua Sg.; meva V.; ?«a° A.; ?«6'° Am.; miya Kah.

Walnut: Yz^a Semn.; uza I. — Yd. oyuzo.

Water: Vuye T.; om B.Sg.; u[w)a A.Kah.; anwa V.; owva Am.;
owe Siv. — Psht. obr, Kurd, aw fem.

Watermill: 'Ara Semn.; °a Soi; dhre V. — Doubtful if fem., cf.
also Biyabuneki drd, Afdari dr'ei.

Willow: Via Semn.; vi{y)a-ddr Sg.V.; v'ie Siv. Nayini (Mor-
genstierne). — Psht. wdla.

Woman, wife: Jania Semn.; Sana Kaj.; zone (wife), zeinie T.;
zania B.Sg.; zene V.; °a Am.; zana A. (wife), zaneya (female); zane
Kah.; ycewa Nat.; zane Yar.; ^'ewe Q.; ja7z'a Soi (Mann, but ze/in
Andreas, HSch.).

Wood, stick: Cuwa V.A.; cue Kah.; c'iiga Soi (Mann), regarding
the secondary -g- cf. sigd(h) black=Q. sigo.

Wool: Pazma V.A.Kah.Am.; poime Nat. (Polak).

Worm: Kelma B.Sg.; kerma V.A.

Year: sola Semn. (Christensen), V. — Kurd, sal fem.; Par.
say < *sardd\ cf. W. Oss. sdrdd (summer).

Yoke-peg: Same T.; sama A., Shali (Khalkhal).— Cf. Av. simd.

As well in Christensen 's as in my own notations of Semn. there
is some vacillation, difficult to explain, in the use of forms with and
without -a. 1 No forms in -a are given by de Morgan (e.g., var
"snow"; bbz "goat"; dot "daughter"), nor are any such forms found
in the list of words I have taken down from Biyabuneki, a dialect
very closely related to that of the town of Semnan itself.

Also in the Central Dialects the situation seems, if we are to judge
from Zhukowskiy's texts, to be a similar one. Thus Q. yen "woman"
in the Vocabulary, 2 but ye/ane pp. 2, 10; 16, 27, 28; 23, 33, 35; dut
"daughter" Voc, but d'ute p. 2, 15; karg "hen" Voc. and p. 4, 21, but
k'arge p. 4, 24. It will be noted that it is only in these three words, all

1 Cf. NTS, XIX, p. 75.

2 Materialy, I.

208

A LOCUST S LEG

of which denote female beings, that the final vowel is found in more
than one of the Central Dialects. 1

It is impossible, from the material at our disposal, to decide if an
ancient final vowel has been sporadically retained in fem. words in
Gurani and Zaza. Note, e.g., Z.siw. jine, bij. MinH; Gur. awr. zdn(a)
"woman"; Z.kor. v'aure; Gur.kand. vdrw(d), awr. wdura "snow"; Z.
(Lerch) k ] drge; Gur. kand. kdri'd, awr. kdrgia "hen".

The retention of a final vowel derived from -a is not completely
coextensive with the preservation of the category of gender. Thus
Shgh. distinguishes between masc. and fem., but the fem. final -a
or -i is reflected only in the umlaut. Thus, e.g., verj "mare" < *bdraci
(vorj masc. < *baraka); sdf "saliva" < *xafd, cf. W. Oss. xdfd
"mucus". Cf. also Shgh. can "bow" < *driind; Sam "vulva" < *dumd
(but Sum "tail"); Roshani raxc (prob. for ra£c) "nit" < *riskd, etc.

In Farizandi the only trace of ancient -a in a noun is dot(a)
"daughter", while gender is well preserved in the verb, where it is
better protected as an integral part of the inflexional system. Cf., e.g.,
Christensen 2 p. 144 ko-sol "where is he?" ko-sta? "where is she?"
Also ba-std "she went", p. 230, 11, is a fem. pret., and not a perfect,
as stated §72. Cf. also hd-cdsta "she sat down" (pp. 204, 5; 230, 17).

It is possible that some details given in this preliminary survey
will have to be revised or modified. But it is equally possible that the
thorough survey of Ir. dialects, which is so urgently needed, will
reveal that this interesting archaism, together with other, unsuspected
ones, extends over a still larger area than apparent from the material
so far available. 3

1 The names given to the dialects by various recorders do not always
correspond with one another. Thus Mann's Soi and Polak's Natanzi both agree
better with Zhuk.'s Qohrudi than with, respectively, the Soi of Andreas and
Houtum-Schindler, and the Nat. of Christensen. This will appear, as regards
Mann, from his Soi words such as dftoii "sun"; guh'uz "walnut"; kavilt'dr
"dove"; m ] drji "sparrow"; ?ndlj [ i "cat"; duh'un "mouth"; isba "dog"; yan'a
"woman"; cds "eye"; asle "tear"; vnjiij "small"; nun "he", as well as from the
verbal endings. From Polak's Nat. note bena "tree"; middschin "cat"; kdrge
"hen"; yena "woman"; merud "eyebrow".

2 Contributions a la dialectologie iranienne (1930).

3 One example of the surprises which may be in store for us is Ashtiyani
(Moghdam, op. cit., p. 127) anazd "farzandi ki zan az sauhar-i digar ddrad". To
the best of my knowledge this word has not been recorded from any other Ir.
language. But it turns up in Skt. anyd-jdta (twice in the Rigveda, and once in a
late anthology) "begot by another man (than the husband)".

"YEARS" IN ROYAL CANONS

By O. NEUGEBAUER

In congratulating an octogenarian on his achievements, we have a
fairly accurate idea what 80 years mean. Ancient and mediaeval
astronomers — and modern historians — were often in a less fortunate
position. It is certainly no mean achievement to be able to say how
many days elapsed between a lunar eclipse that occurred in the
month Skirophorion under the Athenian archon Phanostratos 1 and
another eclipse seen in Alexandria in the seventeenth year of Hadrian,
Payni 20/21. 2 The possibility of answering correctly such a question
rests, in antiquity as well as in modern times, on the same two
foundations: the existence of a time scale not tampered with by
arbitrary changes, and lists which relate local calendars and historical
events to this fixed time scale.

In antiquity the "Egyptian year" of 365 days each provides the
time scale for chronological purposes. The modern counterpart is the
reckoning with "Julian days" (day = — 4712 Jan. 1), or, for histori-
cal purposes, the "Julian year" of 366 days length if its number is
divisible by 4, otherwise of 365 days.

The correlation of Egyptian years with historical events was
established in antiquity by means of "royal canons" which relate
conventionally adjusted regnal years of individual rulers to complete
Egyptian years. It is a misnomer to call such chronological tables
"Ptolemaic canon". Ptolemy's "Almagest" never contained such a
canon (in spite of assertions to the contrary often made in modern
literature), but we know that a fiauiXiaiv xpovoy pac^ia had been
included in his "Handy Tables", 3 which are, however, no longer
extant. Theon, in the latter half of the fourth century, refers to a

'Almagest IV.ll (p. 341,10 Heib.): —381 June 18 = Julian day 1582066.

2 Almagest IV,6 (p. 314,18): +133 May 8 = Jul. d. 1769762.

3 As a irpoKavovtov, according to Ptolemaeus, Opera II, p. 160, 8 Heib.

209

210

A LOCUST S LEG

kclvwv twv Pao-iXeiwv in his introduction 1 to his "Handy Tables",
but the earliest extant version of a royal canon of this type seems
to be the tables of the Emperor Heraclius 2 (610-41). It may be hoped
that Ptolemy's version is (to the extent possible) identical, as is
generally assumed, with the version known to us only from a time five
centuries later. 3 On the other hand, there is no reason whatsoever to
think that royal canons for astronomical purposes did not exist long
before Ptolemy.

The only certain information that we have of Ptolemy's canon in
his Handy Tables is the fact that they are related to a fixed era,
namely, the years of Philip Arrhidaeus. This fact has undoubtedly
contributed much to the spread of the use of continuous eras. The
common acceptance of eras such as the era of Diocletian or, later, of
the Byzantine world era would have made time reckoning a simple
matter and royal canons superfluous.

In actual fact, however, a new ambiguity had been created by the
introduction of a reckoning with Julian years — either in their Alex-
andrian form with Egyptian months, beginning with Thoth 1 =
Aug. 29 (or 30), or in the Roman form. Finally, with Islamic astro-
nomy a new form of years appeared on the scene: the schematic lunar
years of a 30-year cycle, accompanied by a revival of the intercalation-
free Egyptian years in the form of the years of the era Yazdigerd.
The net result for mediaeval chronographers was a situation as
complex as the one from which the Alexandrian astronomers had
extricated themselves.

Thanks to such outstanding works as Biruni's "Chronology",
solid chronological knowledge remained alive among professional
Islamic astronomers. But the so-called revival of western astronomy,
centering in Spain, proceeded on a much lower level, operating more
with a collector's spirit than with the mind of critical scholarship.

1 That is the short introduction, published by Halma, Commentaire de
Theon I (Paris, 1822), p. 31,31.

2 Cf. Usener, Fasti Heracliani, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores
antiquissimi 13,3, pp. 386-410.

3 A few papyrus fragments suffice to demonstrate the existence of variants.
Cf. P. Ryl. 27 (col. Ill, 75ff.), P. Oxy. 35 (perhaps non-astronomical since no
summation seems to be given), and a small fragment from a codex from Oxy-
rhynchus, to be published by Dr P. Sattler in the Archiv filr Papyrusforschung.
I owe the knowledge of this text to the kindness of Prof. E. G. Turner and
Dr P. Sattler.

YEARS IN ROYAL CANONS

211

One illustration of this is the following discussion of a royal canon
from the twelfth century.

In the Latin version of al-Khwarizmi's astronomical tables,
extant in several copies from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 1 we
find as the first table a list of "Tempora quae transierunt inter regna
diversorum regum", giving intervals in years, months, and days. 2
This should furnish an easy check for the epoch dates of the eras
listed, provided one knew what "year" and "month" means. In fact,
however, one has to proceed in the opposite direction. Assuming that
the epochs mentioned represent correctly the dates of known astro-
nomical epochs, one must make the given numbers of years and
months agree with the known intervals. For the "months" we make
the plausible assumption that schematic months of 30 days each are
meant. Then the meaning of "year" can be found for each interval by
dividing the proper number of days by the number of years given in
the canon. The result is very striking. For all years before "Alexander"
(which is actually the Seleucid era in its Syrian norm, beginning — 3 1 1
Tishri l = Oct. l==nil. day 1607739), the "years" are Egyptian years.
Thus we find that the "diluvium" is actually the epoch date of the
Kaliyuga, Chaitra 1= —3101 Febr. 17=jul. day 588465. The era
Nabonassar begins, as expected, on Thoth 1= — 746 Febr. 26=
Jul. d. 1448638, and the era Philip on Thoth 1= —323 Nov. 12=
Jul. d. 1603398.

After "Alexander", however, the "years" are reckoned as Julian
years, leading to the correct dates for the Spanish era ( — -37 Jan. 1),
the Christian era (+1, Jan. 1), Diocletian 1 (Alex. Thoth 1=284
Aug. 29), and Hijra 1 (622 July 15=Muhar. 1). The only exception is
the interval between the era Hijra and the era Yazdigerd which is
again to be reckoned in Egyptian, i.e. Persian, years. 3

A similar case is found in al-Farghani's Elements of Astronomy,
translated into Latin by John of Spain in 1173, and by Gerard of

1 Published by Suter in the Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selsk., Skrifter 7 ser.,
Hist.-filos. Afd. Ill, 1 (1914). I am preparing a supplementary study for
publication.

2 Associated with Suter's text (p. 109) is a multiplication table for 28 which
is in part repeated in Table 3. It has nothing to do with the present table and is
absent from the similar table in the Corpus Christi College MS 283, fol. 114r.

3 In the above computation I had to make the following emendations of day
numbers: line 4 read 18 instead of 17; line 10 read IS for 17; lines 12 and 13
read 2 for 0.

212

A LOCUST S LEG

Cremona (before 1175). 1 In the latter's version we find in chapter 1,
18 the statement "Quod ergo est inter eram Nabuchodonosor et eram
Iezdairt 1379 anni persici et 3 menses et illud quod est inter eram
Alexandri Philippi et eram Iezdairt est 955 anni et 3 menses; et illud
quod est inter eram Alexandri et eram Iezdairt est 942 anni et 259*1".
The first two statements are indeed correct for Persian years. The
interval "from Alexander" ( — 311 Oct. 1) to Yazdigerd, however, has
to be reckoned in Julian years (ignoring for the total half a day).

This is only one, but a typical, example of the composite and
often contradictory character of mediaeval tables. Without being
aware of such internal inconsistencies, modern scholars can easily be
misled to reconstruct chronological systems that never existed.

1 Edited by Francis J. Carmody, Al Farghani, Differentie Scientie Astro-
rvm, Berkeley, 1943.

LE PALMIER A KHUR

Notes de dialectologie iranienne, I
Par G. REDARD

L'oasis persane de Khur est situee dans le Biyabanak (Dast-e Kavir),
a 33° 52' de latitude N et 55° 08' de longitude E; son altitude est
legerement superieure a 900 m. 1 On y compte un millier de maisons
en pise, abritant quelque 3000 personnes dont la principale ressource
est la palmeraie.

Le parler de Khur est range parmi les dialectes centraux de la
Perse, 2 avec ceux des petites oasis environnantes: 'Abbasabad au
nord, Cahmalek et Farrokhi (nom local Farvi) au nord-ouest, Cupa-
nan, Garmab et Ira] au sud-ouest, Mehrejan au sud, etc. 3 Cette
classification est provisoire: les parlers centraux n'admettent pas un
ensemble d'isoglosses specifiques et l'aire en est encore fort mal
connue. Ainsi on ne possede a ce jour, sur le khuri, que deux solides
articles de W. Ivanow parus en 1926 et 1930, 4 et, sur le dialecte tres
voisin de Farrokhi, deux notes de R. N. Frye 6 et S. Kia. 6 En aucun
cas, les materiaux publies n'ont ete recueillis sur place.

1 Mesures etablies le 17.12.1951 par notre compagnon de voyage Murray
Barr. Khur (on a maintenu ici kh = x et u = u dans les noms propres) appar-
tient aujourd'hui au lOeme ostan — celui d'Isfahan — et au sahrestan de Na'in.

2 Voir, en dernier lieu, G. Morgenstierne, Neu-iranische Sprachen, dans
Handbuch der Orientalistik, lere partie, vol. IV, 1, Leyde, 1958, p. 170-2.

3 La circonscription compte 18 villages et 13490 habitants, selon le Far-
hang-e Jografia-ye Iran 10, 1332/1953, p. 80, ou il est curieusement affirme que
seul le persan est parle a Khur; voir aussi Habib Yagma'i, La region de Jandaq
et Biyabanak, dans Majalle-ye mardom senasi, 2e annee, fasc. 1, Teheran ler
trimestre 1337/1958, p. 42-64 (ou sont reproduites, sans indication de source,
sept de nos photographies).

4 Two dialects spoken in the Central Persian Desert, JRAS, 1926, p. 405-
31; il s'agit des parlers de Khur-Mehrejan et d'Anarak, gros bourg a 82 km au
nord-est de Na'in, a 33°16' lat. N et 53°43' long. E (M. Barr).— Notes on the
dialect of Khur and Mihrijan, Acta Orient. 8, 1930, p. 45-61.

5 Note on Farvi, a dialect of Biyabanak, Oriens 2, 1949, p. ,212-15.

Yaddasti dar bare-ye guyes-e Farvigi, Majalle-ye Daneskade-ye Adabiyydt
2/1, Teheran, 1333/1954, p. 34-41.

213

214

A LOCUST S LEG

Deux enquetes nous ont permis d'etudier de pres quelques-uns
de ces dialectes, principalement ceux d'Anarak, de Farrokhi et de
Khur. La premiere, en decembre 1951, fut plutot une reconnaissance,
Khur n'ayant ete qu'une etape d'un long voyage iranien. La seconde,
en novembre 1959, a ete, en revanche, menee de facon systematique.
Les materiaux recoltes sont reunis dans un volume en preparation,
qui comprendra une grammaire descriptive, des textes, un vocabulaire
etendu, compare et, dans la mesure du possible, etymologique, ou
1'ethnographie et la tenninologie technique tiennent une place
importante.

En hommage a S. E. Taqizadeh, qui nous a ete d'un secours
inestimable dans la mise en chantier de V Atlas linguistique de TIran —
dont le Questionnaire, precisement, fut rempli a Khur pour la premiere
fois, nous en extrayons ces quelques notes ayant trait au palmier et
que nous avons voulues purement descriptives. En sont done ecartees
les discussions etymologiques, comme y sont negliges des rapproche-
ments d'autant plus hasardeux que devient plus grande la technicite
du lexique et, par consequent, plus lacunaire notre information. Enfin,
les limites imposees ne nous ont pas permis de traiter les conditions de
culture, la production et le commerce, 1'irrigation et le regime foncier
de 1'oasis, qui auront naturellement leur place dans une etude d'en-
semble.

La palmeraie 1 flanque le bourg au nord et a Test. Son contenu est
difficile a estimer: Sven Hedin, qui a passe a Khur en fevrier 1906,
dit qu'on y comptait plus de 10000 arbres avant le rigoureux hiver de
1903 qui en fit perir 4500 2 — nous sommes a la limite septentrionale du

1 Outre 1'ouvrage general de Gatin, Les palmiers, Paris, 1912, voir notam-
ment: V. Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere, 6e 6d. (par O. Schrader),
Berlin, 1894, p. 262-75; l'article Phoinix de Stier dans Pauly-Wissowa, RE,
XX, 1, col. 386-404; G. Jacob, Altarabisches Beduinenleben, Berlin, 1897,
p. 227-30, avec bibliogr. p. 226 (je dois cette reference, ainsi que quelques
autres concernant le monde arabe, a R. Gelpke); l'excellente monographie de
G. Sigwarth, Le palmier a Djanet. Etude linguistique, Alger, Institut de
recherches sahariennes de l'Univ., Monogr. region. 1, s.d. (1956?); sur le
palmier a Khur, je signale, pour memoire, 1'art. de vulgarisation (sans termino-
logie) de Abulqasam Yagma'i sur "l'arbre qui ne connait pas d'automne" dans
Danes Amuz, Teheran 5 dey 1338/dec. 1959, p. 15-20, avec trois de nos
photographies.

2 Zu Land nach Indien, Leipzig, 1910, II, p. 4. Aucune indication a ce
sujet dans les relations de voyageurs modernes qui ont precede ou suivi Hedin:
MacGregor 1875, H. B. Vaughan 1888, O. von Niedermayer 1912, A. Gabriel
1928 et 1933.

LE PALMIER A KHUR 215

palmier-dattier; il y en a certainement plus de 10000 aujourd'hui,
mais le chiffre de 150000 qu'avancent les habitants est excessif.
Protegee du sable par de hauts murs dbwal, faits de plusieurs etages
de pise cinb, la palmeraie est divisee en enclos kdso plus ou moins
vastes; on trouve aussi des palmiers dans les jardins bbso du quartier
d'habitation. 1

Les palmiers mbg* (Phoenix dactylifera L.) ont en moyenne 7 a
10 m de hauteur; quelques-uns atteignent 15-17 m. Us ne produisent
en general pas de fruits avant 15 ans et deviennent plus que cente-
naires. Dans chaque enclos, on compte deux arbres males mbg-e nar,
qui ne produisent pas de dattes, pour une centaine ou plus d'arbres
femelles mbg-e maye; tant que les plants sont jeunes, il est impossible
d'en connaitre le sexe. Le pollen gdrd-e nar, recolte dans la fleur male
nar-e mbg, est repandu par le jardinier ray at sur les stigmates des
fleurs femelles.

Les racines de l'arbre risb sont tres profondes. Le tronc davil
(aussi tana, plus recent, cf. p. tane) est cylindrique, herisse des bases
de stipes sayari, coupes au fur et a mesure de la croissance ou des
qu'ils s'etiolent (15-20 par an; PI. VIII, fig. 1 n° 1). On coupe de
meme les rejets Ions qui poussent a la base, et les branches qui re-
apparaissent le long du tronc bizd. Le dattier qui donne des dattes
seches est dit rasi, la branche seche kazeng.

Le stipe berask peut atteindre 4 m (fig. 1 n° 2); on en compte 50 a
80 par arbre, et on y distingue trois parties: la base kdvdsk (fig. 1 n° 3)
qui s'elargit a l'attache en spatule; la partie mediane bdskin (fig. 1 n° 4),
garnie d'epines dures m3fr(-e mbg); la feuille pennee terminate, ou
berask proprement dit (fig. 1 n° 5).

Entre les stipes du bouquet abonde un tissu fibreux pij ou pic-b
mbg (fig. 1 n° 6), tres resistant et d'un brun roux. 3 L'inflorescence ou
regime hug (fig. 1 n° 7) se developpe a 1'interieur d'une spathe kaviU

1 C'est pourquoi, sans doute, il n'y a pas de terme particulier pour designer
la palmeraie (p. xormdstdri), comme p. ex. baskardi sahr que donne I. Gershe-
vitch, Travels in Bashkardia, Royal Central Asian Society Journal 46, 1959,
p. 217.

2 Cf. p. ex. mog "palmier" chez A. Eqtedari, Farhang-e Larestani, Telieran,
1334/1955, p. 200; nous avons releve bal. mok (Dezak), mac (Zabol), mac
(Cahbahar). M. Henning nous rappelle phi. muy, de meme sens.

3 Allegroforme piz, ar.-p. llf. Cf. p. ex. bask, pis "dwarf-palm" (Chama?-
rops humilis ou ritchieana) Gershevitch, art. cite, p. 21 5; bal. phfs "id." Gilbert-
son, Engl.-Bal. coll. diet. II, p. 472.

2l6

A LOCUST'S LEG

qui se dresse et s'ouvre vers la mi-esfand (debut mars); l'arbre en
porte de 2 a 20, mais on n'en laisse subsister que 4 a 5 afin de ne pas
nuire a la sante du plant et a la qualite du fruit. La tige tambar
(fig. 1 n° 8) se ramifie en pedoncules terent termines par une petite
cupule kolo" ("chapeau") qui abrite la base de la datte hbrma (dans le
langage enfantin kaka). 1

La datte recoit des noms divers suivant sa qualite, son sue duso 11
et son degre de maturite: hbrma-e barpeid ou barpez, 2 d. bien mure,
qui a muri sur l'arbre; hbrma-e hiizi, d. detachee et exposee au soleil
jusqu'a maturite; nemva, d. a demi mure; kelu, d. non mure; pesk, d.
de palmier non feconde, sans graine (noyau) pesk, 3 ce dernier terme
s'appliquant aussi au jeune dattier qui a pousse naturellement, d'un
noyau jete au hasard; kelu-e pesk, d. petite et sans noyau; kaskelb, d.
dessechee avant maturite, qui tombe — ces deux dernieres ne sont
bonnes qu'a nourrir les chevres et les moutons. 4 II y a, de plus, une
dizaine de varier.es de dattes: tembu, xascdrg, zarazg, seheske n , souz-
hbrma,yazb, karmuni, kelupezen, Mux, hdrak, hasgeno u ; 5 ces termes,
dont le commentaire ne peut trouver place ici, font reference tantot a
1'aspect du fruit (souzhbrma "d. verte"), tantot, le plus souvent, a son
origine: karmuni "d. de Kerman", harak=p. xarak "d. de File du
golfe Persique ainsi nominee", etc. 6

1 P. xormd, phi. xurmd: Grdr. I, 1, p. 265; J. D. Kapadia, Gloss, of Pahl.
Vend. p. 214; I. Pur-e Davud, Hormazdname, Teheran, 1331/1953, p. 74, etc.
Etymologie obscure: le parthe 'mr'w (amraio Henning, BSOAS 13, 1949-50,
p. 645 *) montre que x- est secondaire, cf. aussi l'emprunt arm. anc. armav
(Horn, Grdr. I, 2, p. 67, a la suite de Hubschmann). Usuel dans les dialectes:
bal. xurma (Gilbertson II, p. 472), hdrmag (Zabol, mais nd Cahbahar!), etc.;
noter talis xomo avec chute de r et allongement compensatoire (Grdr. I, 2,'p. 55
et cp. gom "garni, chaud" chez B. V. Miller, Talysskij jazyk, Moscou,'l953,
p. 44); s6i kharun "Datteln" (pi. en -uri) donne par Mann-Hadank, Kurd.-pers.
Forsch. Ill, 1, p. 251, est difficile a expliquer (coquille pour khdrmunl)

2 Cf. p. bdrpoxt et khuri peidari, regime tardif dont les fruits ne sont pas
parvenus a maturite.

3 On notera 1'opposition pesk : pesk; on emploie pesku pour le noyau des
autres fruits.

4 Cf. ar.-p. daqal "datte de mauvaise qualite"; cet usage est connu a
Khabis (NE de Kerman), selon A. Gabriel, Durch Persiens Wiisten, Stuttgart,
1935, p. 216. Ailleurs on utilise a cette fin les noyaux pre^lablement amollis dans
l'eau; cf. deja Strabon 16.1.14.

6 Les termes 1,4,8,11 ont ete relevds par A. M. Ruhbakhshan, le jeune
enqueteur de V Atlas qui nous accompagnait en 1959; kolux est tire" des notes
d'un autre accompagnant, M. B. Farahvashi, qui le traduit par xormd-ifdrs.

6 Kerman etait, au Xeme s. deja, renommee pour ses dattes, cf. Mez, Die
Renaissance des Islams, Heidelberg, 1922, p. 408s. II y a d'autres productions

TAQIZADEI-I VOL.

PLATE VIII

[Dessin H. Pur-Karm

Fig. 1. Palmier

TAQIZADEH VOL.

Fig. 2. Tressage des folioles

[Photo. G. R.

TAQIZADEH VOL.

[Dessin H. Pur-Karhn

Fig. 3. Panier appele zambel

[Dessin H. Pur-Karim

Fig. 4. Panier appele do u lendo

TAQIZADEII VOL.

[Dessin H. Pur-Karim

Fig. 5. Couteau scie das

TAQIZADEII VOL.

PLATE XII

[Photn. G. R.

Fig. 6. Preparation des fibres

TAQIZADEH VOL.

PLATE XIII

Fig. 7. Appareil pour le moulinage

[Photo. Musee d'Etlmographie, Neuchdtel

TAQIZADEH VOL.

{Photo. G. R.

Fig. 8. La decapitation

TAQIZADEH VOL.

Fig. 9. Le "fromage" de palmier

[Photo. G. R.

LE PALMIER A KHUR

217

En novembre a lieu la recolte des fruits bar-e hbrma ou barxas(t),
plus recemment hisel(p. hasel). Un homme monte dans le bouquet de
l'arbre, coupe les regimes et les jette dans la toile cehaU que ses
compagnons tiennent tendue au pied du palmier. On conserve les
fruits sous diverses formes: tels quels, denoyautes, coupes en deux et
seches kolahu, ou broyes en pate. La reserve est placee dans une
chambre specialement amenagee sur le toit de la maison, Maxima. 1
La datte est un aliment tres "chaud" et il est conseille, pour la
neutraliser, de la manger avec du citron, qui est "froid". 2

Ressource essentielle de l'oasis, la datte n'est cependant que l'un
des produits de l'arbre. Strabon deja parle d'un "chant perse sur les
360 facons de tirer parti du palmier". 3 Presque tout, en effet, en est
exploite et fait l'objet d'une manufacture assumee principalement par
les hommes.

La partie mediane du stipe (bdskin), fichee au faite des murs
mitoyens, fait office de barbele et s'appelle alors paji; elle sert aussi de
battoir aux femmes qui lavent leur linge au lavoir sovagar. La partie
pennee est utilisee comme balai jdru. La foliole, longue de 40 cm
environ, plus ou moins fmement decoupee, est tressee soit en pieces
larges, soit en etroits rubans gosk (PI. IX, fig. 2) qui sont ensuite
assembles, a l'aide d'une aiguille recourbee sizen, par une mince bande
de meme matiere. Sous la premiere forme, elle sert a confectionner
l'eventail a izugdram, une calotte fmement travaillee kolo u , et diverses
sortes de sacs carres ou rectangulaires ou Ton conserve les dattes:
novar de 8 cm sur 12 environ, jolldt plus grand, solid qui contient

fameuses: Chardin signale que Jarron (Jahrom) etait connue "pour ses dattes qui
sont estimees les meilleures de tout le monde" (Voyages, nouv. ed., Amsterdam,
1735, II, p. 211); K. Lindberg dit l'excellence des dattes de Jam (Voyage dans le
Sud de l'lran, Lund, 1955, p. 118), etc.— A Garmab, il n'y aurait, selon Habib
Yagma'i, art. cite, p. 45, que deux sortes de dattes: kermdni et qasab; Desmaisons,
s.v. xormd, indique cette derniere espece, a cote de x. bi xaste "d. sans noyau" et
x. kur "d. sans gout". La variete harak est egalement connue de Desmaisons
(s.v. xarak et xarak "espece de d. seche; d. verte, non mure; d. de l'ile de Kh."),
de Halm (s.v. xarak "dried dates of a special variety"), et M. Sotude mentionne
x. xarak avec x. berizu dans son Farhang-e Kermani, Teheran, 1335/1957, p. 67.
Notons encore que, selon Gabriel, ouv. cite, p. 216, il y a 4 sortes de d. a Khabis:
samsd'i, siregi, karut et, la plus estimee, bazmani.

1 Cf. p. xormadan, et bask, kat Gershevitch, art. cite, p. 219.

2 R. Gelpke me signale un "coupage" analogue avec du lait aigre men-
tionne par Snouck Hurgronje, Mekkanische Sprichworter und Redensarten, La
Haye, 1886, p. 50s.

3 16.1.14 (chant babylonien selon Plutarque, Symp. 8.4.5).

2l8

A LOCUST S LEG

quelque 50 kg de fruits. Avec les bandes, on fabrique un chapeau rond
a ailes plates d' environ 6 cm de large kolo u -e zambeli, et une serie de
paniers de formes et d'usages varies: zambel a fond plat et double anse
de coton bbnd-e zambel (PI. X, fig. 3); doHendo spherique, a ouverture
etroite et longue anse de fibre (PI. X, fig. 4); asa.ru, nizi puis, qui est
petit, cdrgazi panier a provisions; gaval fixe au bat de 1'ane, de chaque
cote; gale large, pose en travers du bat. 1

Les fibres pijf sont prelevees a l'aide d'un long couteau a lame
tiy dentee das (PI. XI, fig. 5); les morceaux, d'environ 40 sur 75 cm,
ainsi coupes et arraches tdvapij, sont debarrasses de la partie blanche
et compacte, lisse pVj-i espi par laquelle elles adherent au tronc, puis
immerges dans l'eau un jour ou deux. On peut alors delier les fila-
ments tang de cette bourre, qui sont roules dans la main en meches
gelg de 20-30 cm (PI. XII, fig. 6); reunies, ces meches sont trans-
formees par moulinage en rubans plus longs dcirz, elements de la corde
rasd qu'on obtient enfin par le meme procede, normal, de torsion. 2
L'operation a lieu en general dans les ruelles du bourg: les rubans
sont attaches a un crochet fixe au mur et, a l'autre extremite, a une
cheville retenue par un court cylindre de bois creux que l'ouvrier tient
dans une main, tout en faisant tourner la cheville de l'autre (PI. XIII,
fig. 1)?

Lorsqu'un arbre male est sterile, on le "condamne a mort .
L'abatage, qui a generalement lieu un jour de fete, 4 se fait en deux
temps. Un homme, pieds nus et s'aidant d'une corde, grimpe d'abord

1 Cf. A. Gabriel, Im weltfernen Orient, Munich-Berlin, 1929, p. 309:
"Aus den Blattern der Palme werden in Khur Korbe, Stricke, Facher und
Kappen geflochten"; faits analogues chez Gershevitch, art. cite, p. 215.

8 Desmaisons et Steingass connaissent un xorma-i abu jahl "espece de
palmier dont les fibres servent a faire des cordes"; de meme Borhan-e Qate', ed.
Mo'In, II, Teheran, 1331/1952, p. 738 (avec une interessante note de l'ed. sur le
palmier).

3 Sur ce travail de la fibre, cf. deja Theophraste, h. pi. 2.6.11; Varron, r.r.
1.22.1; Columelle 5.5.15. On n'en fabrique pas a Khur de chaussures, comme
c'est le cas dans le Sud (bal. savas Dezak; Gershevitch, art. cite, p. 221, men-
tionne des sandales de pis) ou les nattes de fibre servent aussi a recouvrir les
huttes: ainsi a Dar ol-Mizan selon K. Lindberg, ouv. cite, p. 122, dans le Balu-
cistan d'apres S. Hedin, ouv. cite\ II, p. 214; J. Dieulafoy note, d'autre part, que
dans le Fars meridional, les cabanes sont "construites en stipes et en branches
de palmier" (La Perse, la Chaldee et la Susiane, Paris, 1887, p. 509).

4 "Miisse man eine Palme umhauen, so verschiebe man es gern bis zu den
Festtagen des Moharrem": S. Hedin, ouv. cite, II, p. 75. Grace a la generosite du
maire de Khur, nous avons pu assister deux fois a l'operation.

LE PALMIER A KHUR

219

jusqu'au bouquet et, a l'aide du couteau das, se met a ebrancher
l'arbre (PI. XIV, fig. 8); a mesure que les couches de fibre apparais-
sent, il les coupe et les ote. La branche de pointe dallak (dimin.;
B. Farahvashi a note del), tres longue et serree comme un eventail
ferme, tombe a son tour. Degage, le cceur de l'arbre decapite est un
cone d'un blanc laiteux, qu'on sectionne a la base avec une longue
scie cirg a manche dasta de corne sax. C'est le "fromage" du palmier
panir-e mbg, qui pese de 3 a 7 kg suivant l'arbre et qu'on mange
debite en cubes (PI. XV, fig. 9): nourriture un peu fade, mais riche,
tres fine et fort appreciee. 1 II ne reste plus alors qu'a scier le tronc
lui-meme, dont on tirera des poutres t h ir et le bois des portes dor de
la maison sera?

A connaitre son role economique et la place qu'il tient dans la vie
quotidienne, on s'explique mieux la veneration vouee au palmier. On
lui attribue de l'intelligence, on le situe entre le regne vegetal et le
regne animal: 3 "il est fait, dit Qazwini, de la meme matiere qu'
Adam". 4 C'est le seul arbre qui soit feconde artificiellement; l'odeur
du pollen serait semblable a celle du sperme humain et Ton raconte a
Khur qu'il est arrive qu'une femme en soit enceinte; on ne l'abat pas,
on le "tue", si loin est poussee l'analogie que Sven Hedin a rendue en
des termes justes, dont je retrouve tous les elements dans mes propres
notes: 5 "Die Perser sagen, dass die Palme ganz wie der Mensch sei;
sie verkiimmere und sterbe, wenn eine Kugel sie getroffen habe, sie
ersticke, wenn Wasser sie iiberschwemme, 6 und erfriere in der
Kalte. Die mannliche Palme hat, wie der Mohammedaner, mehrere
Frauen; sie ist vornehm, zart und empfindlich; sie muss mit der
grossten Sorgfalt gepflegt werden; sie gleicht einem Haustier, das
dem Menschen die unschatzbarsten Dienste leistet. . . . Ein alter
Perser sagte mir, dass die Palme sich von andern Baumen dadurch
unterscheide, dass sie Leben und Seele habe, denke, trauere und sich
freue".

1 Cf. Gatin, Les palmiers, p. 75s. (chou-palmiste); Pline, h.n. 13.39 dulcis
medulla earum in cacumine quod cerebrum appellant; Xenophon, Anab. 2.3.16
tov ayK^aAov tou cpoiviKo;.

2 Meme usage signals par Gershevitch, art. cite\ p. 217.

3 Cf. B. A. Donaldson, The wild Rue, Londres, 1938, p. 141.

4 Cite par Hehn, Kulturpflanzen . . .°, p. 262.
6 Ouv. cit<5, II, p. 74-5.

' On fait egalement p6rir l'arbre en versant sur le cceur de l'eau salee, de
l'urine ou de la chaux (A. M. Ruhbakhshan).

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

By F. ROSENTHAL

In two passages of his Chronology (205 and 318 Sachau, trans. 187 and
315), al-Biruni speaks of the prophets of the Sabians of Harran, most
of whom, he says, double as Greek philosophers. He mentions the
Egyptian Hermes; Aghadhimun (Agathodaimon); Pythagoras, who
occurs in only one of the two passages; Sio'r, who is once described as
Plato's maternal grandfather, which would make him Solon, but not
even the assumption of a Pehlevi original would enable us to reconcile
the forms Solon and Sw'r; W'lys, whose name, according to the
famous Ms. 'Umumi 4667 in Istanbul, appears in the second passage
as 'Iws, which supports the suspicion that he is identical with 'lyzos
(Elbus), Zoroaster's Harranian teacher according to a passage in the
Chronology published by H. Taqizadeh; 1 and, finally, Baba (so in both
passages in the 'Umumi manuscript).

The name of Baba is a familiar one. For instance, it appears in
Dura-Europos in a Semitic inscription as Bb' and in Greek as Baba,
and it may, or may not, be related to quite a few Aramaic (Syriac and
Jewish) name or names spelled Bby. 2 But the form of the name is so

1 In BSOS, VIII (1935-7), 947-54. The name seems also to occur in
Zoroaster's "autobiography" in the astrological work ascribed to him at the
end of the Istanbul Ms. Nuru Osmaniye 2800. For Solon, cf. also ash-Shah-
rastani, 250 Cureton.

2 For references, cf. J. B. Segal, in BSOAS, XVI (1954), 22, whose paper,
together with that in Anatolian Studies, III (1953), 97-119, is an important
contribution to the old Sabian problem. For Dura-Europos, cf. also R. N. Frye,
J. F. Gilliam, H. Ingholt, and C. B. Welles, Inscriptions from Dura-Europos,
nos. 97, 136, 155, 171 (New Haven, 1955, from Yale Classical Studies, XIV).

It may be noted that Baba appears in ancient times as the name of an
Egyptian god as well as a Sumerian goddess, cf. J. Wilson, T. Meek, F. Stephens,
and S. N. Kramer, in J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 2nd ed., 15a,
217a, 390b, 456a (Princeton, 1955). A Syrian goddess Babaia or the like is also
known, cf. L. Jalabert, R. Mouterde, and C. Mondesert, Inscriptions grecs et
latines de la Syrie, IV, 119 (Paris, 1955, Inst, francais d'archeol. de Beyrouth,
Bibliotheque archeol. et histor., LXI).

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

221

simple and lends itself to combination with so many similar forms in
other languages that reserve is indicated, although it seems logical for
the Prophet of Harran to have had a common Aramaic name. We are
fortunate, however, in possessing two rather large fragments of the
reputed writings of Baba, one in Syriac, which has been known to
scholars for many years, and another one in Arabic, found in the
volume dealing with geography of the Bughyat at-talab fi ta'rikh
Halab by Ibn al-'Adim (588-660/end of 1192 or beg. of 1193 to 1262),
which has not yet been published. 1

Ibn al-'Adim tells us that he was given a copy of a book ascribed
to Baba by Ibn Taymiyah Khatib Harran, a member of a family
which for several generations provided the main mosque of Harran
with preachers. One of them, 'Abd-al-Ghani b. Muhammad (581-
639/1185-1241), 2 a cousin of the famous Ibn Taymiyah's grandfather,
was only a few years older than Ibn al-'Adim, but since Ibn al-'Adim,
at the end of the quotation, refers to the year 652/1254-5 as one in
which Ibn Taymiyah appears to have been still alive, he must have
been 'Abd-al-Ghani's son, 'Abd-al-Qahir, who died, about sixty
years old, in 671/1272-3.

Ibn al-'Adim complains about the solecisms of Baba's Arabic, and
the language of the fragment is certainly strange and unidiomatic. This
can be explained easily, but there is no denying that it causes difficul-
ties for the reader, as can be seen in the translation that follows here:

"Ibn Taymiyah, the Preacher of Harran, sent me the Book of Baba, the
Sabian from Harran. It comprises seven chapters (maqdldf) in which (the
author) mentions what will be in times (to come). (Baba) is said to have made his
pronouncements 367 years before the Hijrah.

In the fourth chapter, he says: And concealed secrets were

revealed to me. My soul became troubled and my heart was fearful

1 Istanbul Ms. Aya Sofya 3036, fols. 235a-236a. In the winter of 1947-8,
part of the fragment was copied by me from photographs in the Egyptian
Libraiy in Cairo, Ms. ta'rikh 1 566, Vol. Ill, pp. 538-41 , and on the last working
day of my stay in Istanbul in the summer of 1960, I copied the passage as
exactly as I could from the original manuscript. The library authorities in both
Cairo and Istanbul deserve my gratitude for the great helpfulness with which
they gave me access to their manuscript treasures.

Dr Sam? ad-Dahhan told me a few years ago that he was preparing an
edition of the work of Ibn al-'Adim. To the best of my knowledge, his edition
has not yet appeared. I am sure, however, that the prospective editor's vast
knowledge and the availability of the complete text will greatly improve upon
my presentation.

2 Cf. F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, 390 (Leiden, 1952).

222

A LOCUST S LEG

lest I spoke. I spoke because I was commanded to speak by 1 the Lord
of Lords, 2 so that I would make known and explain what will be in
times (to come). To wit:

The Abyssinians, who are the most excellent of the people of the
south (al-qiblah), 3 will be roused, and their king, whose name is good, 4
will come forth with a mighty force of countless men together with
their mounts, their trains (sawad), their columns (?) 5 like snakes, and
their mounts like wild beasts running fast (?). 6 They will come forth
from the direction of the West. Their number will be like the number
of sand and locusts . . . . 7 (fol. 235b) money and expenses. In their
hearts, there will be no pity for father or child. Their hosts and armies
will gather like locusts that by flying cross desolate lands and reach
inhabited areas. They will take possession of the land of the Nubians
and the land of Egypt, and they will go up from there to Damascus
and despoil and destroy it. He 8 will come to the River Jordan and

1 Umirtu min seems more a translation from the Aramaic than idiomatic
Arabic.

2 Rabb al-arbdb may conceivably correspond to what elsewhere in the
literature dealing with the Sabians is called rabb al-dlihah, cf. Segal, in Anatolian
Studies, III (1953), 115 f. Whether our text allows us to equate the Lord of
Lords with the Blind Lord seems questionable.

3 Although there is nothing strange to the Arabic word qiblah being used in
the meaning of south, it may be worth mentioning that the Sabians are supposed
to have prayed toward the south, cf. al-Biruni, Chronology, 206 and 331 Sachau.

4 This may be compared to the expression "big name" in the Syriac
prophecy, referring to someone coming from the south to the support of
Harran. The Arabic name Hasan is certainly not meant here. The assumption
that the allusion here is to the Muslim conquest seems too obvious to be correct,
but cf. p. 230, n. 4, below.

5 The text has wa-"w 'd-him, which does not make sense. One might think
of a correction to aghwdr "large numbers of men, soldiers" or diodn "helpers,
soldiers". However, assuming an Aramaic original, I would suggest that the
original read gaysayhon "their armies" which was misunderstood (in oral
dictation?) as qaysayhon "their wood (pi.)".

The text seems to read t-f-j, which might be tufiju. If the text were
written in literary Arabic, one might assume that after "snakes", tafuhhu
"hissing", in parallelism to tufiju, was omitted and that the text has to be divided
as follows: "with their mounts and their trains, their columns like snakes
hissing, and their mounts like wild beasts running fast". However, as matters
stand, this is highly improbable.

7 The last folios of the Aya Sofya manuscript are affected by water stains
at the bottom, which makes them somewhat hard to read, and I was unable to
make sense out of the last two lines here.

8 The change of person is unexplained. The Aramaic past tense where
singular and plural of the third person masc. sound alike cannot be held re-
sponsible for it.

THE PROPHECIES OF BAE-A THE HARRANIAN

223

by-pass Palestine 1 and encamp at the Euphrates. The city of priests,
called Mabugh— that is, Aleppo—, 2 will be safe. Then, he will come
to you, Harran. You will also enjoy peace and safety. The people of
heaven will dwell in your midst. The might of the people of Harran
will be raised to the highest degree. They will fight and subdue the
land and the sea with firm authority. 3 One will drive off 120, and
twenty, two thousand. 4 All those who do not accept their conditions
and do not listen to what they say will be killed.

In the sixth chapter, he made the following statement: 6 When
the kingdom of al-Ahwaz comes to an end, there will be much fight-
ing, and much blood will be shed upon earth. There will be heavy
fighting in the west for several days. In this connection {wa-ma'a
hadha): Woe unto you, splendid cities! Woe unto you, villages and
small towns, on account of unclean groups (shu'ab najisah) that will
defile the earth with their deeds, who do not know God 6 and do not
honor the people of heaven, who walked the path of evil desires and
departed from the truth, so that the people of heaven became angry at
them! Woe unto you, splendid Damascus, seat of a fine kingdom

1 Wa-ya'buru 'aid Filastin could hardly be understood otherwise in the
context, but the use of the preposition 'aid in this meaning would seem more
natural in Hebrew or Aramaic.

2 The gloss equating Mabugh-Mabbug-Manbij with Aleppo cannot
belong to the original text, and Ibn al-'Adim himself should have known that
Mabugh, the city of priests {madinat al-ahbdr), corresponds to Manbij. Else-
where, he calls Hieropolis (Hierapolis, Manbij) madinat al-kahanah (cf. JAOS,
LXXI [1951], 137; al-kuhhdn in Agapius of Manbij, ed. L. Cheikho, in CSCO,
Script, ar., Ill, 5, 71). The gloss may be a not too subtle attempt by a com-
mentator to vindicate the prophecy for Aleppo.

Ahbdr translates Aramaic kumre, and the choice of the word suggests a
translation rather than an Arabic original, but we may be dealing here with a
traditional translation. Mabugh is called mdittd dkumre by Jacob of Sarug, cf.
J. P. Martin, in ZDMG, XXIX (1875), 110.

3 Bi-'aqd qawi, which seems dubious Arabic.

4 The figures cannot be correct. The easiest correction would be 100,
instead of 120, but this is uncertain, since 120 as a multiple of sixty is a more
significant number than 100. Perhaps, it should be 2,400, or alfayn should be
corrected to dldf "thousands"?

The verb trd followed by the preposition li- which is used here is Aramaic
rather than Arabic.

6 The text adds fad, indicating that the quotation begins at a new para-
graph.

G The use of Allah here does not necessitate the existence of mono-
theistic beliefs in the original, in particular since an Aramaic original would not
have distinguished in writing between the singular and the plural of the word.

224 A L0CUST s LEG

(madinah hasanat al-mulk)\ How will your walls be destroyed, and
your market streets razed to the ground! Woe (fol. 236b) unto you,
Ba'labakk, city of the sun! 1 How will the powers of the talismans
found in your midst be transferred to Mount Bn'jiok (?), the mountain
east of Harran, and your incense, your perfume, and your sacrifices
be changed, while you are going toward ruin, until the voices of
destruction are heard in you. But to you, Mabugh — that is Aleppo — ,
city of priests, a man of authority will come and settle in your midst.
He will raise your walls, delimit your market streets, and take pos-
session of (?) 2 the spring that is located in your midst. After a short
while, he will be taken from you. Then, woe unto you! How much
fighting and wars you will experience! Woe unto you, Sumaysat! 3

He further said (in another) paragraph: Truthfully I say that
Edessa will be destroyed and the water which was taken from it 4 will
be returned to Harran. Sumaysat will be destroyed, and the water
which belongs to Kzozn, & they will take south (ild l-qiblah).

In this chapter, he further said: The stones of Edessa will be
carried to Harran, and a wall and a fasti 6 will be constructed from
them for Harran. In the gate which is situated between east and south,
a house of worship will be built, and that upon orders from the power
(quzuah) of our Blind Lord. 7 He is the one who commanded me to

1 That is, Heliopolis.

2 Yahuzu, as in the manuscript, may not be correct.

3 Apparently, the quotation breaks off abruptly.

1 That is, Harran. The geographers, as, for instance, Ibn Hawqal, I,
226 Kramers (154 De Goeje), state that Harran has little water, and this para-
graph of Baba's prophecies may have reference to this situation. On the water
shortage in Harran, cf., further, A. Mez, Geschichte der Stadt Harran in Meso-
potamien bis mm Ei7ifall der Araber, 5ff. (Strassburg, 1892), and D. S. Rice,
Medieval Harran, in Anatolian Studies, II (1952), 37 and 40.

6 This looks like the ancient Guzana, Gozan, the region near the upper
reaches of the Khabur east of Harran. It could hardly be considered as located
north of Harran or be connected with Sumaysat, but this may be due to a lack of
knowledge concerning the exact location of a geographical term known only
through literature.

6 That is, the interval between the inner and outer walls, but here, seem-
ingly, one of the walls itself, cf. F. Rosenthal, Ahmad b. at- Tayyib as-Sarahsi,
74 (New Haven, 1943, American Oriental Series, XXVI).

7 The Blind Lord is known from the section on the Sabians in Ibn an-
Nadim's Fihrist, 448 and 453 8 (Cairo, 1348), where he is equated with al-
Mirrikh (Ares, Mars). The Aramaic form, mdrd samyd, translated al-ildh
ad-darir, appears in Pseudo-Majritl, Gkdyah, 226 Ritter, cf. also Dozy and De
Goeje, in Actes du Sixieme Congres Intern, des Orientalistes , II, 2, 293, 335, 360
(Leiden, 1884-5). Cf. Segal, in BSOAS, XVI (1954), 21, and, in particular,

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

225

make these things known to you. I say that Mabugh— that is, Aleppo
—will be awakened by (P) 1 the priests, and there will be peace and
safety upon the entire earth.

We have mentioned this paragraph (fasl) before and stated that a portion of
the wall of Harran collapsed in the year 652. This required transporting stones
from the wall of Edessa to Harran for the rebuilding of the damaged portion of
the wall. The Preacher of Harran gave me this information, and I have reported
the above (excerpts) from this book, with all their solecisms and faulty speech."
The text raises two questions which we would like to have
answered. Firstly, is it, or is it not, a specimen of "Sabian" literature,
and, secondly, at what time did it originate? That it originated in the
geographical area of Harran can be taken for granted and need not be
proved. We can also believe Ibn al-'Adim when he says that he had a
complete book from which he made his excerpts.

With regard to the original language of the work, the notes to the
translation will have made it clear that my preference goes to the
assumption of an original written in Aramaic, that is, Syriac or a
dialect closely related to it. However, Aramaisms, Aramaic toponyms,

H. Ingholt, in Berytus, V (1938), 129, and idem, Parthian Sculptures from Hatra,
17ff. (New Haven, 1954, Memoirs of the Conn. Academy of Arts and Sciences,
XII). Ingholt refers to the Blind Lord in connection with an enigmatic deity
called Simios, Sameos, or the like, who was also worshiped in Hierapolis-
Mabugh (sy?ny in Syriac spelling). It would seem possible that the Sabian
Aramaic mr' smy' originally referred to the Lord Smy' and was misinterpreted by
Arabic translators, and perhaps already by the Aramaic Harranians themselves,
as the Blind Lord. An equation with Ares-Mars would fit the nature of the god.
The Fihrist 448 4 also speaks of a deity called Rabb al-'umydn, which, if read
correctly as Lord of the Blind, may indicate an Aramaic spelling mr, instead of
mr' (both, originally, construct states, referring to the Lord Smy'). Mr smy' was
misread mar smayyd (pi.) and mr' smy', mdrd samyd (noun with the definite
article). However this may be, it does not necessarily presuppose a translation of
our fragment from the Aramaic, since the form "The Blind Lord" was probably
widely known and used by Harranians also in speaking Arabic. [Recent litera-
ture on the problem includes H. Seyrig, in Syria, XXXVII (1960), 241-6,
and A. van den Branden, in al-Mashriq, LIV (1960), 217-30.]

Al-Biruni, Chronology, 321 Sachau, mentions a Dhd'l which is said to be
an idol 'my (sic in the 'Umumi manuscript), but whatever this may mean, it has
probably no connection with the Blind Lord.

1 The text reads: tst'yr min al-ahbdr, which is difficult. Tasta'idhu "will
seek refuge from the priests" would make sense only if the priests were con-
sidered an evil element, and there is nothing in the text to indicate that this was
the case. Tasta'idu al-ahbdr "will ask the priests to return" is hardly possible
and also requires the deletion of min. The above translation is based upon the
assumption — admittedly a very speculative one— that the Arabic represents
Aramaic tett'ir. Perhaps, tett'ir was misread tett'id, and this was mechanically
translated into a meaningless tasta'idu.

226

A LOCUST S LEG

unidiomatic expressions, and a non-Muslim imagery and phraseology
are the things to be expected from a Harranian writer intent upon
producing, in Arabic, a supposedly pre-Islamic work. Mistranslations,
such as those suggested in p. 222, n. 5, and p. 225, n. 1, could decide
the question, but their existence can, for the present, not be considered
as fully established. However, the assumption of an Aramaic original
seems acceptable. It definitely rules out Muslim authorship and leaves
us with the certainty of either Sabian/gnostic/pagan or Christian/
sectarian Christian authorship. An Aramaic original also makes pre-
Islamic origin at least a possibility, whereas an Arabic original could
have hardly originated before the ninth century.

The determination of the dates of apocalyptic writings and the
circumstances responsible for their production has always been a
favorite occupation of scholars, both ancient and modern, and the
difficulties involved are usually such that agreement is rarely achieved
even after hundreds and thousands of years of discussion. Baba's
prophecies also leave much room for speculation, and it would not be
surprising if some scholar were to maintain that the work came out of
the turmoil created in the area by the Crusades which provided an
ideal climate for the flourishing of apocalyptic writing.

The statement that Baba wrote 367 years before the Hijrah is, of
course, editorial in origin, and we cannot say whether or not it was
derived from some allusion found in the text itself; it may, however,
be noted that it conflicts openly with the Syriac fragment which
assumes a pre-Christian date for Baba. The Arabic text seems to have
as its main purpose the prediction of a glorious future for Harran and
Hierapolis-Mabugh — Harran's "sister", as Jacob of Sarug called the
city 1 — ■, while everything around is said to be destined for complete
destruction. This sort of local patriotism can hardly be dated with
any accuracy, but it points to a situation where the feeling of a special
relationship between the two cities was alive and strong, and since this
presupposes the existence of vigorous non-Muslim communities, it
is not likely to have outlasted the early centuries of Islam.

In the geographical cadre, the occurrence of the Arabic form
al-Ahwaz seems a bit unusual, but it could easily be an Arabization of
Huzaye or the like; reference to it could be pre-Islamic, or early
(Umayyad) Islamic if "the kingdom of al-Ahwaz" was meant to hint

1 Loc. cit. (above, p. 223, n. 2).

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

227

at the 'Iraq as a very important (but not the most important) part of
the Muslim Empire. The reference to Damascus as the seat of a fine
kingdom suggests Umayyad times. The choice of the Abyssinians
(coming from the south and, immediately thereafter, from the west)
as the agents of destiny could be pre-Islamic, but it is something that
savors strongly of Muslim eschatology. In sum, an Umayyad date
seems possible, and as far as I can see, has no positive argument
against it.

Were it not for the existence of the Syriac fragment which
purports to be a prediction of the coming of Christ, 1 one might at
this point be satisfied with the Sabian/pagan character of the Arabic
passages and hardly consider the Christian alternative. But, as it is,
we must have a look at the Syriac text. This text was first published,
together with a Latin translation, by Ignatius Ephraem III Rahmani
in his Studio. Syriaca, 48-50, trans. 47-49 (Charfe, 1904). A manu-
script preserved in the Mingana Collection in Birmingham, no. 4 V,
fols. 79b-81b, 2 has the identical text. As Rahmani pointed out, some
quotations of the Baba text are found in Dionysius Bar Salibi's work
Against the Muslims. They are very brief and restricted to the most
suitable sentences (see p. 229, n. 7, and p. 230, n. 1, below); there can
be no doubt that they do not go back to a complete text of Baba's work
but are derived from the same collection in which we find them today.
Bar Salibi wrote his work Against the Muslims before his work Against
the Jews, which was written in 1477 Sel./l 165-6. Thus, we know for

1 The vast literature of pagan predictions concerning the coming of
Christ does not seem to have preserved further references to Baba. G. Graf,
Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, I, 486 (Citta del Vaticano, 1944-
53), refers to a Babas, whose name, he suggests, should be corrected to Bias.
Gerasimus of Dayr Sim'an al-'Aja'ibi (Graf, II, 83) has an unclear reference to
Sabian testimonies to the coming of Christ, but Baba is certainly not mentioned.
I consulted the Bodleian Ms. Marsh 69 (Uri, Christian Ar. mss. 49), which has
no pagination. I wish to thank the authorities of the Bodleian Library for their
hospitality extended to me, as often before, during a short visit to Oxford in
1958.

2 Cf. A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Mingana Collection of Manuscripts, I:
Syriac and Garshuni Manuscripts, col. 12 (Cambridge, 1933). The manuscript
was written in 1895 (with additions down to 1898) and copied from an ancient
original, apparently the same of which another copy was the basis for the
edition.

For Bar Salibi, I used Ms. 89 G of the Mingana Collection, which contains
the quotation from Baba on fol. 67b. I wish to thank the authorities of the Selly
Oak Colleges Library for graciously responding to my request for microfilms of
their manuscripts.

228

A locust's LEG

certain that his source for the Baba quotations must have been written
before that date, but how long before remains an open question,
except that being addressed to unbelievers it is likely to antedate the
twelfth century by, at least, a few centuries.

It seems that little attention has been paid to Baba's prophecies
since their publication, 1 and the edition is not easily available.
Therefore, a modest attempt to translate the text into English has
been appended here:

"The Prophecy of Baba, the God 2 of Harran.
Listen to the statements of Baba who also lived in Harran, whose book is
being read attentively by the pagans, who is called by them a prophet, whom
they esteem more than all the philosophers, and in whom they take refuge. With
the divine power's approval of his prophecy, he announced and spoke openly
about the Messiah, as did Balaam, the soothsayer. He made the following
statement in his first book, which is called 'Revelation' (Gelydnd).

I did not want to say these things, but I was required against my
will to write about these things that are going to be, while there will
be tears and lamentation when they are going to happen. For the light
that is prior to the world came to earth and appeared in the body of
the earth 3 without mankind knowing it. Thereafter, it returned again
and went up to its place on high by the side of that glory that is
concealed from everybody. And while it is there in its place, so-
called (?) 4 inhabitants of Harran will come, and the inhabitants of
the city of Sin will say that it is Baba's insanity, 5 <not> wisdom
coming from the sons of heaven. Shaking 'Azzfiz in which all

1 But cf. A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, 11 (Bonn, 1922),
and J. Tkatsch, Die arabische Ubersetzung der Poetik des AristoteI.es, I, 41b
(Vienna, 1928-32).

2 The reference to Baba as a god, which caused me to collect occurrences of
"Baba" as a divine proper name (above, p. 220, n. 2), is singular and unexplained.
It may be due to the animus of the Christian author. Baba is spelled here Bb' and,
much more frequently, B'b'.

3 I.e., in an earthly body?

4 This is the meaning of dddmen "who are similar", implying that they
were not true, loyal Harranians. Perhaps, one should, however, read drdmin
"haughty". In the following, it would simplify matters to read: "they will say
<to> their fellow citizens, the inhabitants of the city of Sin"; however, this
correction is not absolutely necessary. In any case, it seems that the passage
expresses disapproval of a section of the Harranian population which tries to
destroy the pagan community and, in particular, 'Azzuz {'zwz), presumably,
the name of the main pagan sanctuary in H arr a n -

6 Apparently, the enthusiasm of the prophet, which is disapproved of by
hostile Harranians.

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

229

exaltation (?) is, 1 they will expel those who dwell in it, and it 2 will
become a house of martyrs, and all the rest a place of shame.

From the same book: For the gnosis of light that is immortal,
imperishable sacrifices, and incorruptible splendor (will) appear on
earth, having its dwelling in heaven and controlling heaven and earth.
Life is in it for all who take refuge in it. The inhabitants of Harran 3
were liars. <It is> all that was and is, and it is prior to everything.
Wisdom takes up residence and dwells in it. Beside this splendor,
nothing has subsistence.

Earth, earth! Do not drink error, but know the light that has
appeared and subsists and does not perish, ascending 4 on high and
serving on earth for years! Shortly, evil will come because of their sin,
and their foot will not be steady until they see the light that has
appeared and worship it rightly.

From the same book: And they will say the sweet word: 'Come,
let us fall upon the ground and worship God, the Creator of the
earth!' 5 And there shall be a great and holy temple on earth, and the
entire people will bring a sacrifice 6 to God in perfect love.

From the second book: They will behold the ray that sprang
from where they did not expect it. It will be visible from their place.
It will appear with all its appropriate fittings in great, incompre-
hensible splendor, and all those who dwell on earth will notice the
glory of the brilliance that was concealed and became revealed.

I saw in the mind as if I was spoken to as follows: The progeny
of splendor and light was born from the earth for gain r.nd loss, for
subsistence and fall. 7

Woe, woe! For after a while, no stone of the house of the gods in
your midst that is glorious and exalted like the Capitol in Rome, will
be left upon the other. Do not tremble, for if you know the splendor

1 Rahmani indicated that he did not understand the text, and left the
relative clause untranslated. A word rs', meaning una persona, quivis, quoted
from Bar Bahlul in the Thesaurus Syriacus, would yield the meaning "in which
there is everybody", but its existence is doubtful. The correction to rawmd
"exaltation, glory" is, of course, also doubtful.

2 The Syriac has the pi. fern.

3 Those mentioned before who were attacking paganism, rather than the
pagans meant by the Christian author?

4 Read tessaqi

5 Cf. Ps. 95:6.

6 Or "sacrifices".

' This paragraph is quoted by Bar Salibi.

230 A LOCUST S LEG

of the ray, many things that (seem) important will be like nought.
The ray of the Lord will openly descend upon the earth, and they will
be without signs until the ascent of the radiance. 1 The inhabitants of
Persia will come bringing gifts for the ray. Glorious is the divine
guidance, and marvelous the miracle that will appear upon earth. It is
above words and understanding; it is incomprehensible and un-
accountable. Thereafter, the world will dwell in peace for a while.
The kingdom of the east will be aroused. It will go up and destroy the
city of Judah. 'Abor (Eber) will descend into captivity, and Babil will
serve in servitude, because of the miraculous progeny, concerning
<whom> I (she ?) said .... (?). 2 Thereafter, the kings of the west
will be roused, and they will come up to our place. They will slaughter
sacrifices and bring offerings in the midst of 'Azzuz. They will seek to
abolish the religion, while unable to say 3 so because others after
them will believe and rule.

Baba then said that after a long time, a big name from the south
will come and sit down in the midst of 'Azzuz. He will honor its 4
initiates, but over all those who do not heed his words, the sword
will rule.

Baba then spoke about the apostles: His apostles, that is, his

runners, are contemptible. 5

He indicated openly that the Apostles of the Messiah are contemptible and
simple people Qiedyote). He sent them out, and they ran over the whole world.
With the help of the divine power that was clinging to them, they were able to
catch all mankind (and bring them) to Life, doing great and miraculous deeds.

1 Instead of the lampon of the text, which is not found in the Syriac
dictionaries, Rahmani reads lampron.

This, and the following two sentences are quoted by Bar Salibi, who,
however, omits the second half of this sentence, which presents difficulties to
the understanding.

2 Rahmani translates: quoniam disseruit {scil. Babil) de progenito ex
miraculo in sua generatione.

3 The text (danmallhln) may have to be corrected to dansaklhln or dan-
samltn.

4 Or "his". In this case, the "big name from the south" could be Islam.

5 Sitin, which we are supposed to understand as referring to simple, low-
class people. We do not know what the suffix "his" refers to (the word Messiah
does not occur in the Baba fragments), but if the Christian Apostles are meant,
it would seem that in Baba's original work, lesus and the Apostles were evil
elements, as elsewhere in some forms of gnosticism. Thus, for the Mandaeans,
the Apostles are "seducers" (m'sty'ny') in a world into which lesus had brought
"foolishness" {Syty') and in which there existed "contemptible" {Syty') lewish
sects, cf. M. Lidzbarski, Ginzd, 51 27 , 135 ,., 135 22f . (Gottingen-Leipzig, 1925).

THE PROPHECIES OF BABA THE HARRANIAN

231

The soothsayer spoke again further about the progeny of
splendor on earth, as follows: <Above> all and dwelling 1 in
everything — that miracle that was done". 2

The Syriac and the Arabic texts have identical remarks concern-
ing the reluctance of the seer, and there is some similarity in the
statements concerning the big name from the south and his powerful
rule in the one text, and the Abyssinian ruler and the power gained by
the good Harranians in the other. The "sons of heaven" who play an
important role in the Syriac text certainly are identical with the
"people of heaven" in the Arabic. All these agreements may, however,
be credited to the literary type to which both texts belong.

The assumption that the Syriac text is an outright Christian
forgery finds support in the fact that the Baba passages appear in the
context of clearly supposititious statements attributed to various
famous figures. The difference is that Baba was not famous or inter-
nationally known but of strictly local interest which at best extended
to, say, Edessa and Antioch. There are the Christian concepts of the
ray springing from the glory in heaven and other ideas best explained
as Christian in origin. However, if one reads the Syriac text carefully,
one cannot help being struck by the tenuousness of the Christian
allusions and the fact that practically all of them could have been
easily superimposed upon a text that might have spoken about a
gnostically transformed Christ in a kind of Biblical phraseology or,
rather, about the gnostic light in general. Concepts such as the light
coming down to earth, the gnosis of light, the incorruptible splendor
(nuhrd), or the progeny of light and splendor, can be read as
gnostic. 3 With regard to the pagan cult in Harran, the text lacks
clarity and seems to contain contradictory statements, but expressions
of hope for its preservation and renewed glory in the fact of violent

1 Rather than "concealed".

2 Obviously, two unconnected characterizations of the progeny of splendor.
The text goes on presenting the conclusions the author feels should be

drawn from Baba's prophecies. His words suggest that paganism in Harran was
a personal problem for him in his time.

3 It should be kept in mind, however, that recent research has shown how
difficult it often is to keep apart Eastern Christian and related gnostic phraseo-
logy.

A judicious recent survey of the symbolism of light in gnosticism may be
found in K. Rudolph, Die Mandaer, I, 120ff. (Gottingen, 1960).

232 A LOCUST S LEG

attacks upon it by hostile elements (which may have been Christians
or Muslims) seem to be prevalent. The remark about the Apostles
must have been originally intended as a slur upon them, branding
them as evil characters. Above all, if there really existed a book
ascribed to Baba, of which our text has preserved only excerpts, the
comparative irrelevance of the excerpts chosen leaves little room for
doubt that that book cannot have had much to do with Christianity
(which, if it were a Christian falsification, would be its only reason for
existence). There is a good possibility that the Syriac text has, in fact,
preserved remnants of Harranian gnostic literature that were only
slightly adapted to the purpose which the Christian author had in
mind when using them.

For the Arabic text, considerably less doubt seems indicated.
The author obviously hopes for the persistence and flourishing of
paganism. It would be far-fetched to assume that a Christian or a
member of an heretical Christian sect that had remained at least
basically Christian would have gone that far in his mystification in
order to provide local color and the appearance of authenticity. We
cannot be fully certain, but in all likelihood, the Arabic text is a rare
survival of Harranian "Sabian" literature, translated from an Aramaic
original presumably dating from the Umayyad period.

DER DEUTSCHE BEITRAG ZUR
IRANFORSCHUNG

Von B. SPULER

Unter den drei grossen Kulturbereichen, in die sich das islamische
Vorderasien aufgliedert, sind zwei in unmittelbare Beriihrung mit
Europa gekommen. Die gewaltige Ausdehnung der arabischen Macht
im Gefolge von des Propheten Mohammed Auftreten hatte vor allem
die romanischen Volker in den sudlichen Teilen Europas getroffen.
Auch die Kreuzziige als der markanteste, machtpolitisch letztlich
gescheiterte Gegenstoss des Abendlandes waren im Wesentlichen
von romanischen Volkern — den Franzosen und (in der Sicht der
Muslime) den Spaniern — getragen worden.

Die zweite Bildung eines grossen, ubernationalen Reiches auf
islamischer Basis hatte die osmanischen Tiirken iiber Istanbul
hinaus bis vor die Tore Wiens gefiihrt und iiber die unterworfenen
Volker Siidosteuropas hinweg die Deutschen zu Nachbarn und lange
Zeit zu politisch — militarischen Gegnern der Tiirken gemacht.
Neben allem andern brachte die Beriihrung mit den Arabern und mit
den Tiirken die Volker des Abendlandes dazu, sich m ; t ihnen und
der von ihnen bekannten Religion, dem Islam, zu beschaftigen. Die
geistige Auseinandersetzung mit dieser den Christen damals so
fremden Welt hat Europa wesentlich bei der Bestimmung seines
eigenen Standortes geholfen. Freilich waren die Urteile iiber Araber
und Tiirken unter dem Nachhall der Waffen lange Zeit getriibt.
Aber selbst beim Toben des Krieges haben die Deutschen ihren
tiirkischen Gegnern die Achtung nicht versagt und so das Fundament
zu einer spiiteren Verstandigung gelegt, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten
mehr und mehr zu gegenseitiger Sympathie gefiihrt hat.

Ganz anders als die von der Leidenschaft des Tages nicht immer
freien Beziehungen zu Arabern und Tiirken war das Verhaltnis der
Europaer, gerade auch der Deutschen, zu der dritten grossen
Kulturnation Vorderasiens, zu den Iranern. Die Iraner waren die
einzigen, die in islamischer Zeit nie den Mittelpunkt eines grossen,

333

234

A LOCUST S LEG

iibernationalen Reiches gebildet hatten. Auch zu Zeiten, als Iran
grossere Gebiete mit arabischer oder tiirkisch — kaukasischer Bevol-
kerung umschloss, wie das Zweistromland (Mesopotamien) oder
eben Teile Kaukasiens, iiberwog das persische Element stets an
Zahl. Unter diesen Umstanden konnte das iranische Wesen in
Dichtung und Kunst sich selbst treu bleiben, konnte es nie von
andern Elementen iiberwaltigt werden. So blieben die Perser ange-
sichts dieser politischen Selbstbescheidung die einzige der drei
grossen vorderasiatisch — islamischen Nationen, die fur die Euro-
paer, also auch fur Deutschland, nicht das Interesse einer (lange
unfreundlichen) Nachbarschaft besassen und mit der es nie zu einem
militarischen Zusammenstosse kam. Das Bild der Iraner war also
nicht durch Entstellungen getriibt, wie sie die Wirren der Tages-
politik manchmal mit sich bringen. Als die muslimischen Perser kurz
nach den Tiirken ins Blickfeld der Deutschen traten, war es also nicht
in erster Linie das staatliche Leben und noch weniger die militarische
Bedeutung des Landes, auch nicht eine fremde Religion, die das
Interesse des Westens auf sich zogen. Vielmehr erschloss sich den
Auslandern, erschloss sich den Deutschen alsbald der ganze Zauber
der persischen Kultur in Literatur und Kunst, jenes eigentliche
Zentrum persischen Wesens, dem Iran mehr als seinen Waffen seine
Stellung innerhalb der islamischen Welt verdankte. Haben die
Araber und die Tiirken ihre Reiche mit dem Schwerte in der Hand
erobert, so ist Iran (bei aller militarischen Starke, die es haufig
besass) eigentlich die "Grossmacht der Kultur" unter den
islamischen Landern. Mit den friedlichen Waffen des Geistes hat
dieses Land den Arabern sein uraltes Kulturerbe weitergegeben, hat
es dem abbasidischen Chalifat seinen Stempel aufgepragt. Kaum
hatten die tiirkischen Seldschuken im 11. Jahrhundert Iran erobert,
so wurden sie Gefangene iranischen Wesens und spater seine macht-
vollsten Forderer. Mochte der Kampf zwischen Persern und Tiirken
im 16. Jahrhundert noch so hartnackig toben: der turkische Sultan
Selim I. (1512-20) schrieb seine Gedichte auf persisch, und die
Geschichtswerke der Tiirken berichten in eben diesem Jahrhundert
von tiirkischen Siegen iiber die Perser — in iranischer Sprache. Aber
nicht nur die Tiirken blieben bis an die Schwelle der Neuzeit geleh-
rige Scfmler der iranisch-islamischen Kultur. Auch Irans andere
Nachbarn, die mittelasiatischen Tiirken (besonders die Osbegen) im
Norden sowie die Muslime Indiens im Siidosten, hatten sich voll und

DER DEUTSCHE BEITRAG ZUR IRANFORSCHUNG

235

ganz der persischen Kultur eingegliedert. Kunst und Dichtung,
Geschichtsschreibung und Prosaerzahlung waren Ableger persischer
Vorbilder, waren weithin in persischer und nicht in osbegischer
Sprache oder in Urdu abgefasst.

Was wunder, dass auch Europa sich alsbald voller Ehrfurcht vor
dieser geistigen Grosse Irans verneigte, dass schon der erste deutsche
Irankenner, Adam Olearius (um 1600 bis 1671) im 17. Jahrhundert,
nicht nur (in seiner "Offt begehrten Beschreibung der Newen
Orientalischen Reise . . .", 3. Auflage, Schleswig 1663) das persische
Leben seiner Zeit beschrieb, sondern sich bemiissigt fiihlte, im
"Persianischen Rosenthal" eine Ubersetzung von Sa'dis "Gulistan"
vorzulegen und damit den ersten Schritt zur Hinfiihrung seiner
Landsleute zur persischen Literatur zu tun. Aber selbst, wenn man
Olearius noch nicht eigentlich einen Iranforscher nennen mag:
Engelbert Kampfers (1651-1716) lateinisch geschriebener Darstel-
lung der Persischen Reiches um 1684 in seinen "Amoenitates Exo-
ticae" (Lemgo 1712) wird man den Namen einer wissenschaftlichen
Untersuchung nicht vorenthalten diirfen. Seine Schilderung liegt seit
20 Jahren auch in einer deutschen Ubersetzung vor ("Am Hofe des
persischen Grosskonigs", hrsg. von Walther Hinz, Leipzig 1940);
das Werk gehort zu den wichtigsten Quellen iiber den Staat der
Safawiden. Auch wenn manche spateren Darstellungen der persischen
Verhaltnisse aus der Feder deutscher Reisender, von denen sich
manche Jahrzehnte im Lande aufhielten, nicht die wissenschaftliche
Bedeutung von Kampfers Werk erreichen, so sind doch auch diese
Schilderungen als wertvoller, als wissenschaftlich unentbehrlicher
Beitrag zur Kenntnis dieses Landes zu werten. Sie aufzuzahlen, kann
hier nicht unsere Aufgabe sein.

Aber es war nicht nur das iranische Reich in seiner damaligen
Gestalt, das den Westen, das die Deutschen interessierte. Das einzige
iibernationale iranische Grossreich, wie ein solches nur in vor-
islamischer Zeit bestand, also der Staat der Achameniden, begann
sich gegeniiber den — naturgemass einseitigen — Schilderungen der
alten Griechen mehr und mehr zu entschleiern, als der Deutsche
Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775-1853) im Jahre 1802 zu Got-
tingen den Grund zur Entzifferung der persischen Keilschrift gelegt
hatte. Durch die nun einsetzende Arbeit von Gelehrten vieler
Nationen, unter denen Deutsche wie Franz Heinrich Weissbach
(1865-1944) einen ehrenvollen Platz einnehmen, erschloss sich uns,

236

A LOCUST S LEG

erschloss sich auch den persischen Nachfahren die Stimme des
grossen Dareios, die, in Stein gehauen, die Jahrhunderte iiberdauert
hatte und die vom Wollen und Wirken dieses iranischen Grosskonigs
berichtet.

Die Forschung blieb freilich nicht bei den Achameniden stehen.
Die Bekanntschaft mit den Parsen in Indien, diesen treuen Be-
wahrern einer vor dem Islam fast vollig versunkenen Zeitspanne
persischer Kultur, bot den Schliissel dafiir, urn auch diese spatere
Epoche anhand von Inschriften, Urkunden und Biichern neu erstehen
zu lassen. Vom Islam iiberdecktes, von den Persern selbst vergessenes
Erbe trat wieder zu Tage. Eine Vielzahl iranischer Sprachen, irani-
scher Religionen erstand vor unsern geistigen Augen. Unsere Kennt-
nis von der Epoche der Arsakiden und Sassaniden steht heute auf
festem Grunde. Schon vor Jahrzehnten stellte Johann Heinrich
Hubschmann (1848-1908) die etymologischen Grundlinien des
Iranischen fest und erwies das Armenische als einen selbstandigen
(nicht zum Iranischen gehorigen) Zweig des Indogermanischen. Zur
gleichen Zeit zogen Ferdinand Justi (1837-1907) in seinem "Irani-
schen Namenbuch" (Marburg 1895) und Christian Bartholomae
(1855-1925) im "Alt-iranischen Worterbuch" (Strassburg 1904) eine
Summe unseres Wissens von fruheren Sprachstufen des Iranischen,
Werke, die in ihrer Griindlichkeit noch heute Fundamente der
Iranistik sind. Martin Haug (1827-76) machte als erster Deutscher
die Parsen selbst zum Gegenstand seiner Studien, jene Religions-
gemeinschaft, die er in Indien 1859/66 so griindlich kennen gelernt
hatte.

Der ordnende und sammelnde Geist der Deutschen Hess es sich
zu gleicher Zeit nicht nehmen, unter Mitarbeit auch vieler aus-
landischer Gelehrter den ersten, auf seine Weise grossartigen Versuch
eines Uberblicks iiber alle Lebensausserungen iranischen Wesens zu
geben in dem "Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie" (2 Bande,
Strassburg 1896/1904), der unter der Leitung von Wilhelm Geiger
(1856-1943) und Ernst Kuhn (1846-1920) stand und eines jener
schonen Beispiele dafiir ist, wie auf einem solch weiten Gebiete wie
der Iranistik internationale Zusammenarbeit zu besonders frucht-
baren Ergebnissen fiihrt. Der "Grundriss" war freilich fur einen Teil
seiner Abschnitte im Augenblicke seines Erscheinens iiberholt, da
eben damals die Turfan-Funde bisher ungeahnte Quellen fur die
iranischen Sprachen und Kulturen erschlossen, die unserer Erkenntnis

DER DEUTSCHE BEITRAG ZUR IRANFORSCHUNG

237

und unserer Forschung alsbald neue Bahnen wiesen. F.W.K.
Mii Her (1863-1930) gehort zu den Deutschen, die sich auch um
die iranistische Seite dieser Funde wesentliche Verdienste erworben
haben. — Unabhangig davon wurden Friedrich von Spiegels (1820-
1905) und Justis Sprachstudien und Textausgaben von Karl Friedrich
Geldner (1852-1929) in seiner mustergiiltigen Avesta-Ausgabe
(3 Bande, 1885/95) weitergefuhrt, auf der Hans Reichelt (1887-
1939) seine vielfiiltigen Studien iiber dieses Werk aufbaute.

Inzwischen erschloss Friedrich Carl Andreas (1846-1930) in
Gottingen Dokumente und Sprachprobleme des Mittel-Iranischen
in einer Weise, die — bei alien Erorterungen im Einzelnen — die
Grundlage fur vielfaltige weitere Untersuchungen, auch auf dem
Gebiete der modernen Dialekte, legte. Anhand solcher Unterlagen
berichteten ausser Spiegel (Eranische Altertumskunde, 3 Bande,
Leipzig 1871/78) und Justi (Geschichte der alten Perser, Berlin
1879; Geschichte der orientalischen Volker im Altertum, Berlin 1889)
der Althistoriker Eduard Meyer (1855-1930) sowie Isidor
Scheftelowitz (1875-1934) und Hans Heinrich Schaeder (1896-
1957) iiber Kulturzusammenhange und religionsgeschichtliche
Fragen, die man vorher nicht hatte ubersehen konnen.

Uberhaupt erschloss sich uns Iran auch unter dem Blickwinkel
des Glaubens in neuer Weise, nicht zuletzt in Hinsicht auf die
Religion, der heute die Perser so gut wie geschlossen zugehoren, also
den Islam. Hier hatte Theodor Noldeke (1836-1930) vor nunmehr
80 Jahren als erster gelehrt, wie friih-islamische Nachrichten in
arabischem Gewande (wenn auch aus persischer Feder) fur die Zeit
vor Mohammed zu interpretieren seien ("Geschichte der Perser und
Araber zur Zeit der Sassaniden; aus dem Arabischen des Tabari
iibersetzt", Leiden 1879). Daneben hat Noldeke, auf dem Lebens-
werke von Johann August Vullers (starb 1882?) und des in Paris zu
Ehren gekommenen Deutschen Julius Mo hi (1800-76) mit ihren
Textausgaben ausgehend, unter Heranziehung auch nicht- deutscher
Arbeiten, das Nationalepos der Perser, Firdausis Schahnama, in
seiner Entstehung und seinem Aufbau neu erschlossen. Dass der
Deutsche, der nach ihm sein Lebenswerk dem Schahnama widmete,
dass Fritz Wolff (1880-1943), der Verfasser des Glossars zu dieser
Dichtung (Berlin 1936), unter der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft
ein schauerliches Ende fand, darf freilich hier nicht verschwiegen
werden.

238 a locust's leg

Wahrend die Geschichte Irans in islamischer Zeit (auch durch
deutsche Arbeiten) erst in Ansatzen erschlossen ist, hatte die Be-
schaftigung mit der neupersischen Literatur (seit 1000 n. Ch.) durch
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ihre Wegweisung bekommen. Auf
jeden Fall war es der Perser Hafiz — also weder ein Araber noch ein
Turke — der dem Dichterfiirsten Rang und Reiz der morgenlandi-
schen Dichtung verdeutlichte, in einer Form, die ihn im "West-
ostlichen Diwan" (um 1815) zu einer produktiven Auseinandersetzung
mit diesem grossten Lyriker Irans zwang (zu diesem Thema liegt
jetzt wieder eine deutsche Studie vor). Indem Goethe: Hafiz welt-
literarischen Rang zuwies, machte er zugleich die Interpretation der
persischen Literatur fur das Abendland zu einem Gegenstande
weltliterarischer Bedeutung: auch fur die Deutschen, denen Josef,
Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (1774 bis 1856) die erste Uber-
sicht iiber den dichterischen Schatz dieser Nation geboten hatte
("Geschichte der schonen Redekiinste Persiens", Wien 1818). Mit
Hammers Hafiz-Ubertragung ("Diwan des Hafiz", Tubingen 1812),
die Goethe vorgelegen hatte, beginnt fiir das 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
jene nicht mehr abreissende Kette von Ubertragungen persischer
Dichtungen ins Deutsche, die uns mit der persischen Literatur
vertraut gemacht hat wie mit keiner andern des islamischen Bereiches.
Der von Goethe gewiesenen Aufgabe ist auch die deutsche Forschung
seither nicht untreu geworden. Was neben vielen anderen Friedrich
Riickert (1788-1866) und Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack
(1815-94), was Paul Horn (1863-1908) und Friedrich Rosen
(1856-1935), was schliesslich (um unter den Lebenden nur diesen
hervorragenden Gelehrten zu nennen) Hellmut Ritter fiir die
Erschliessung und Durchdringung der persischen Literatur getan
haben, wird immer unvergessen bleiben und besitzt auch fiir die
Perser selbst Bedeutung.

Neben der Erforschung der zwolfer-schiitischen Konfession des
Islams als der fiir Persien massgebenden, die von Rudolf Stroth-
mann (1877-1960) um wertvollste Erkenntnisse bereichert worden
ist ("Die Zwolfer-Schi'a", Leipzig 1926; "Schi'a-Literatur", Leipzig
1926), war es dann der Bereich der iranischen Archaologie und
Kunstgeschichte, der durch Deutsche nachhaltig gefordert und in
seiner bezaubernden Mannigfaltigkeit erschlossen worden ist. Hier
rufen die Namen von Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945) und Ernst
Herzfeld (1879-1948; freilich aus Deutschland vertrieben) so

DER DEUTSCHE BEITRAG ZUR IRANFORSCHUNG

239

vielfaltige Erinnerungen wach, dass auf die Anfuhrung einzelner
Werke an dieser Stelle verzichtet werden darf. Aber wenn auch von
Lebenden sonst nicht die Rede sein soil, so darf doch der Senior
dieser Forschungsrichtung, darf Ernst Kiihnel nicht unerwahnt
bleiben, dem wir immer neue massgebende Arbeiten auf dem Gebiete
auch der iranischen Kunst verdanken.

Aber nicht nur Sprache und Literatur, nicht nur Religion,
Geschichte und Kunst sind es, mit denen die deutsche Iranforschung
sich beschaftigt. Es ist nicht nur das Vergangene, wie lebendig auch
immer es sein mag, nicht nur das klassische Iran, das die deutsche
Wissenschaft fesselt. Mehr und mehr hat sich den Deutschen,
insbesondere seit der Thronbesteigung der jetzigen Dynastie, die
Moglichkeit geboten, sich mit der iranischen Gegenwart bekannt zu
machen und am Aufbau dieses Landes zu beteiligen. Was neben
vielen anderen auch Deutsche zur geographischen und geologischen
Erforschung des Landes, die eine so wichtige Voraussetzung seines
wirtschaftlichen Aufbliihens ist, geleistet haben, hat Alfons Gabriel
kiirzlich in einer hochst aufschlussreichen Arbeit dargelegt ("Die
Erforschung Persiens", Wien 1952; vgl. auch Wolfgang Lentz in
der "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft"
104/11, S. 524-9), auf die hier verwiesen werden darf. Das fiihrt
hin zur Erschliessung von Bodenschatzen und von Wasser, zur
medizinischen Hilfe, zur Ausriistung des Landes mit Gewerbeschulen
und ahnlichen Lehranstalten, schliesslich zur Ausbildung vieler
junger Iraner in Deutschland, fiihrt hin zur Mitarbeit und zur finan-
ziellen Unterstiitzung der landwirtschaftlichen und industriellen
Entwicklung: an all dem sind neben den vielen Praktikern auch
deutsche Wissenschaftler in erheblichem Masse beteiligt. So wird
man auch die wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen zwischen Iran und
Deutschland nicht nur unter dem Blickwinkel des Warenaustausches
sehen diirfen. In ihnen steckt auch ein gut Teil lebendiger Anteil-
nahme deutscher und zahlreicher anderer Forscher an den Schicksalen
und kulturellen Leistungen des iranischen Volkes, dem das Abendland
mindestens ebenso viel verdankt, wie es ihm geben konnte.

THE TATI DIALECTS OF RAMAND

By E. YARSHATER

It is a matter of some surprise that despite more than a hundred years
of active study of Iranian dialects, one of the most important groups
of these dialects, viz. Tati, extending from Khalkhal in Azerbaijan to
Saveh, south-west of Tehran, should, until a few years ago, have
remained virtually unknown. The group stands out among the
North- Western Iranian dialects by virtue of its many archaisms in
morphology, syntax and vocabulary, and by the retention of some
grammatical features lost to most of the other related groups. With
every new Tati dialect which comes to light, deeper interest in the
group is called for, as my recent explorations in Khalkhal, Tarom,
Zenjan and Kharaqan of Saveh bear out.

Here I should like to offer a few general remarks about the Tati
dialects of Ramand, a district to the south-west of Qazvin, which
contains the largest Tati-speaking population in Persia.

Ramand is a flat country at the base of the Ramand mountain,
limited on the north by the Dashtabi and, on the south, by the Zahra
districts.

The common vernacular of these regions is Turkish, but in
Ramand the main villages have retained their Iranian language.
These villages, moving from north to south, are: (1) Takestan, former
Siadohon (abbreviated Tak., pop. 8253), 1 situated some 30 miles to
the south-west of Qazvin on the road joining this city to Tabriz and
Hamadan. (2) Esfarvarin (abbrev. Esf., pop. 3452), whose people,
together with those of Chal, are known for their quarrelsomeness and
recalcitrance. (3) Shal, popularly Chal (abbrev. Cal., pop. 4321), a
conservative village with one of the more interesting Ramandi

1 For population numbers I have followed the Farhang-e Joghrdfid'i-e Iran
(FJI), vol. I, which, however, reflects the somewhat imperfect statistics of some
15 years ago. Estimates given me by the local people and authorities are generally
much higher.

240

THE TATI DIALECTS OF RAMAND

241

dialects. Its two main districts, Upper and Lower, show slight
dialectal variations. 1 (4) Xiaraj (abbrev. Xia., pop. 2784), a declining
village of past importance, the home of Mira Kuru, the Ramandi poet
who seems to have lived not earlier than the late Safavid period.
(5) Xoznin (abbrev. Xoz., pop. 923). (6) Danesf(ah)an (abbrev. Dan.,
pop. 2500). (7) Ebrahim-abad (abbrev. Ebr., pop. 1637), which has an
exceptionally high level of literacy. (8) Sagz-abad, (abbrev. Sagz.,
pop. 2070). 2 To these is to be added Eshtehard (abbrev. Esh., pop.
6267), at 78 kms. north-west of Tehran, which, although it belongs to
Savuj-bulagh, represents by traditional and linguistic affinities an
extension of the Tati villages of Ramand. Its dialect is grammatically
conservative. 3

The serious attention of scholars was first drawn to the Tati
dialects of Ramand by W. B. Henning, who briefly visited Takestan
in 1950, and published his remarks on Takestani in an important
paper he read before the Philological Society of London in 1953. 4
Earlier brief references to the Tati of Ramand had failed to arouse
wide or immediate interest. 6

Responding to the need for a more thorough study of Ramandi,
I visited Takestan in the summer of 1955, where I learned of the
other Tati-speaking villages in Ramand. These I have covered since,
in the course of several intermittent trips, collecting dialect materials.
My notes include folk poems, stories, descriptive pieces, and lexical
and grammatical material.

1 Cf. U. Cal. berbinden "to cut", veskenja "sparrow", ndngun "pinch", but
L. Cal. bervinden, mesgenja, ndngur. M. Sotudeh's Chali glosses (see below)
belong to the Upper Chal.

2 Ebr. and Sagz., however, belong administratively to the neighbouring
district of Zahra.

3 Ramandi is also spoken in Qarqasin, Qanbar-shah, Xoruzan and Chalin,
small villages with emigrants from Esfarvarin; in Yar-abad, a recently founded
village that has drawn its population from Xiaraj; and in Palang-abad, Baba-
jaru, Nekujar, Sohbat-abad and Morad-tappe, all belonging to Eshtehard and
generally derived from it. The dialects of Alvir, and Vidar in the Kharaqan of
Saveh, are best treated as a separate group of Tati. Of all the known Tati
dialects, Alviri comes closest to Eshtehardi, and Vidari, an attenuated form of
Tati, to Alviri.

1 "The Ancient Language of Azerbaijan", TPS, 1954, pp. 157-77.

6 Eshtehardi is mentioned by V. Zhukovsky, Materiali, I, p. IX; he quotes
about 140 Esh. glosses he had found on the margin of an 1844 edition of Borhdn-
e Jame'; see, further, V. Minorsky's article on "Tat" in the. Encyclopaedia of
Islam; A. Kasravi's ABari, Tehran, 1938, 3rd ed. 1945, records in Persian script
brief specimens of the Tati of Khalkhal; see Henning, op. cit., p. 160.

242 A LOCUST S LEG

Meanwhile a few publications bearing on Raman di have appeared:
a manuscript copy of a treatise on Ramandi dialect, written about a
hundred years ago by a native of an unspecified village of Ramand, and
discovered in 1954 by I. Afshar, was published in 1955 by M. Sotudeh
in the Farhang-e Iran-Zamin, vol. Ill, part I, with Chali equivalents
in Latin script by the editor. It contains mainly lexical material. 1 In
1958 J. Al-e Ahmad published an account of the ways and customs of
Sagz-abad and Ebrahim-abad that included some texts 2 in the dialects
of these villages, as well as a glossary, and some grammatical remarks. 3

In spite of their relative closeness, the Ramandi dialects show
within themselves interesting variations and divergences in vocabu-
lary, as well as in morphology and syntax.

The most characteristic features of Ramandi dialects may be
summarized, in morphology, as being the distinction of gender (fem.
and masc), and the retention of the oblique case(s) in nouns and some
pronouns, and in syntax, as being the application of the passive con-
struction where a past transitive verb is involved, and the relatively
frequent use of postpositions as against the absence or rarity of
prepositions.

(1) Distinction of gender. The gender is distinguished in nouns,
generally in the 3rd sg. of the pronoun, and in some tenses of verbs.
Feminine nouns are commonly marked by an unstressed -a, with the
stress regularly falling on the penultimate syllable, e.g. Esh. xoza
"sand", kila "farrow", jua "stream", gnara "calf", geliiaka "young
calf", laxia "branch", dra "millstone"; Xia. cela "spindle", nidsa "fly",
xawa "co-wife", xefa "badger"; Cal. tiarsa "hail", asorda "ladder",
dara "sickle", lava "kiss", kaha "pheasant", ddya "female colt", espeja
"louse", bona "spade", kelma "worm", xudka "sister"; Tak. vii{y)a
"water", kasuya "turtle", fareka "chicken", hoya "stream". 4

1 At the 25th International Congress of Orientalists, I had surmised that,
on the basis of comparison and internal evidence, the treatise probably reflected
the dialect of Xiaraj. This was borne out by my subsequent study of Xiaraji.

2 Tdt-neshin-ha-ye Boluk-e Zahrd, Tehran. The texts are in fact almost
entirely from Sagz. and fail to bring out the interesting features of Ebr. dialect.

3 For publications on other Tati dialects, see E. Yarshater, "The Dialect of
Shahrud (Khalkhal)", BSOAS, vol. XXII, part I, 1959, p. 52; "The Tati
Dialect of Kajal", ibid., vol. XXIII, part II, 1960, p. 275; a short list of words
from Xo'in was published by M. Sotudeh in FIZ, vol. VI, 1958.

4 In Cal. a number of fem. nouns end in -i (the unstressed -a seems to have
dropped out), e.g. jili "chick" (Tak. cillia), meji "young female camel" (Esh.
majia), macci "cat".

THE TATI DIALECTS OF RAMAND

243

The gender of some animals, as well as some adjectives used
substantively, is shown by the presence or absence of the above fem.
morpheme, e.g. Ebr. xar/xar-a "donkey" (masc. and fem.), Esh.
gow/-a "cattle", Cal. gusak/-a "young camel", varg/-a "wolf";
fercel/-a "dirty (one)", sur/-a "red (one)". Often when the masc. or
the base ends in -a, the fem. takes -ia, e.g. Cal., etc. nomaza "fiance",
nomazia "fiancee"; Esh. Fdtemia "Fatima"; Sagz. sdnia "winnowing
fork" (cf. Pers. sane).

In pronouns the gender is marked in the 3rd sg. of the personal
and demonstrative pronouns. Examples from Dan.: d/dya, obi. ji/jia
"he/she", (in both cases used also as demons, pron.); atn/ama, obi.
jeme/jema "this"; demons, adj.: am/je "this", d/jd "that".

In verbs the gender is invariably marked in the 3rd sg. of the
Preterite and Imperfect, and generally also in the Perfect, the Plu-
perfect (not in Sagz.), the Present, and less frequently in the Sub-
junctive. 1 Examples: Xoz. buma/bumia "he/she came", mid/miydya
"he/she comes", bevast-e/-i "he/she has run", bumiaf /bumiva
"he/she had come"; Ebr. mise/misia "he/she used to go"; Sagz.
bevaz-e/-ia "(that) he/she runs".

The distinction of gender in the 1st and 2nd sg. is far less
frequent, and seems to be on the decline: 2 Ebr. az-im/-em, Esh.
az-ima/-eyma, Cal. az yima/yeyma "I am"; Cal. ta yisa/yeysa "you
are"; Ebr. bevast-im/-em, bevast-is / -es "I ran, you ran"; Cal. bettat-
e-m/-i-m, bettat-e-s / -i-s "I have, you have run", bem/bim "I have
been"; Esh. bem/-a "(that) I be".

Only in Ebr. the predicate adj. shows the gender: ndxes bef/
ndxesafa "he/she was ill". Interesting are Xia. iya and Cal. ya as the
fem. of i "one".

(2) Nominal declension. At least two cases may be noticed in
Ramandi, direct and oblique. This two case system is generally
extended to the plural (but not in Tak., where the dir. plural has
disappeared). The fem. nouns do not change in the obi. case, except
in Esh.: Ma^yama bomia (dir.) "Maryam came", but Maryahnd nun
baxdrd (obi.) "Maryam ate bread". In the masc. nouns, the sg. obi.
ends in an unstressed -e. In the plural the obi. ending is commonly
on, o(n) (Ebr.-£w). The plural of the direct case, however, shows

1 In the past tenses the gender distinction is confined to intransitive verbs
only; see below.

2 In the following examples the masc. is mentioned first.

244

A LOCUST S LEG

greater variation: Cal., Sagz., Dan. -e, Esf. -end, Xia., Ebr. -en, and
Esh. ha.

The oblique case is used for the genitive, definite direct object, 1
indirect object, object of a postposition, and in Esh., Cal. and Ebr.,
i.e. the three more conservative dialects, also for the agent of past
transitive verbs.

In all Ramandi dialects an obi. case in -(a)r is employed for
nouns denoting family relationships, e.g. Xoz., etc. zomd/zomdr
"bride-groom, son-in-law", Esf., etc. teta/tetar "daughter". This
obi. ending is extended in most of the Ramandi dialects (not, how-
ever, in the peripheral Esh. and Tak.) to genitives and definite direct
objects denoting people, e.g. Ebr. comb rayyat-ar hamberaya beba
"take my farmer with you", coma cupun-ar das beskias "our shepherd's
hand was broken". 2

Generally, in Ramandi dialects the vestiges of a different gram-
matical treatment for animate and inanimate objects are clearly
visible, as may be seen in the following examples: Esf. asifa bekat
"the apple (fern.) fell", but, misa bekat-a "the ewe fell"; Cal. Hasan-e
di "give to PL", but, xolo zamin di "give fertilizer to the land". Cf.
further Cal. -ku/-u "from, in, etc.", postpositions used for animate
and inanimate objects respectively.

(3) Postpositions. Of these, some that are single vowels, like Cal.,
Xia. -u (above), Ebr., Tak. -a, Sagz. -a "in, from", are hardly dis-
tinguishable from case endings, and create case-like forms, except that
they may also follow the pi. obi. ending and enclitic pronouns, e.g.
Cal. raz-on-u "in the gardens", koste-y-u "in your (sg.) belt", amberdz-
em-u begeratem "I took (it) with my clothes"; Tak. ji dftdvun-a "in this
sunshine (pi.)"; Sagz. pey-s-d "in his footstep".

Interesting is -ku (Tak. -xo, Sagz. -cu), used also in northern and
southern Taleshi dialects, as well as in Tati dialects of Khalkhal and

1 In most of the Ramandi dialects the sg. obi. ending serves also to define
the defin. dir. obj., but if such a noun is already defined by a possessive adj. or
an antecedent genitive, the obi. ending is not used, e.g. Ebr. coma gandam drd
ka "grind our wheat!", dadar-em gandam drd ka "grind my father's wheat!",
but gandam-e drd ka "grind the wheat".

2 Where the definition of such nouns, however, depends on the ending, the
common obi. ending -e is employed, e.g. Ebr. cupun-e hamberaya beba "take
with you the shepherd", cupun-e das beskias "the shepherd's hand was broken".
The rules governing the use of the obi. endings -e and -{a)r are more complicated
than briefly stated here.

THE TATI DIALECTS OF RAMAND

245

Tarom, but not in Esh., Alviri, and Xo'ini, where -da is used
instead. 1

(4) The passive construction. 2 The most consistent form of the
passive construction is found, among the Tati dialects, in Nowkiani
(Upper Tarom), where the agent is expressed in the oblique, the
logical direct object in the direct case, and the verb agrees in number
and gender with its logical direct object. In Ramandi this construction
is weakened in various degrees. Closest to Nowkiani is Esh., the most
conservative Ramandi dialect in this respect, where the above rules
are generally observed when the logical direct object is animate. With
inanimate objects, the concord of verb is generally abandoned, and
the verb (in fact the verbal adjective) is in masc. sg. form: e.g. Hasan-e
fur-es beza "H. hit his son", Hasan-e tetia-s bezia "H. hit his
daughter", Hasan-e lazak-ehdbezandi "H. hit the children"; cemen beza
debasti "I have tethered the goat (fern.)" (masc: debasta); cf. Hasan-e
ddra, ddra-hd buind-es (masc.) "H. saw the tree (fem.), the trees". 3

The most attenuated form of the passive construction is found in
Tak. and Esf., where the agent appears in the direct case, and the
logical object is treated as the grammatical direct object, e.g. Esf.
Hasan momia-purar-es bind "H. saw his cousin (the son of his
father's brother)"; Tak. azfel-em add Hasan-e "I gave money to H.". 4

1 B. V. Miller's association of North Taleshi -ku with Persian ku "where?,
street, quarters, etc.", Talisskiy yazik, pp. 80-1, is hardly convincing. One is led
to associate -ku with the Sogdian preposition kw, commonly derived from Av.
kam, Vedic kam (Slavic ku) and treated by E. Benveniste, "Une correlation
slavo-iranienne", Festschrift Vasmer, 1956, pp. 70-3, as one of the important
isoglosses of Indo-Iranian and Slavic.

2 The essential elements in a pass, constr. are: (a) a past transitive verb,
(b) the agent, and (c) the logical direct object. Logically, the agent is the verb's
subject; grammatically, however, it does not stand in concord with the verb. It is
the logical direct object that is the grammatical subject of the verb, since the
verb is in fact built on a past participle and has a passive sense. In Tati, the
agent, if not expressed by an enclitic obi. pronoun, is often resumed by one.

3 The concord of the verb with its logical direct object in Esh. is less fre-
quently observed among the younger generations than among the older. While
the older people observe the concord sometimes even with the inanimate
objects, the younger neglect it sometimes even with nouns denoting people, and
generally with nouns denoting animals.

4 Only Cal. has preserved, among the Ramandi dialects, a set of agential
pronouns (also found in Nowkiani and Xo'ini), as distinct from its general
oblique pronouns: men, ta, ay/aya (fem. and masc), amd, soma, ayo(n); cf. the
obi. personal pronouns: ceme(n) esta, jay /-a (masc. and fem.), cemd, soma,
jayo(n).

EIN WIEDERAUFGEFUNDENES WERK
ABU HAYYAN AT-TAUHIDIS

Von 'ABBAS ZARYAB (KHOl)

Im Jahre 1913 hat Margoliouth in der Enzyklopadie des Islam darauf
hingewiesen, dass das von Yaqut ira Irsad mehrfach erwahnte Buch
iiber die "Zwei Wesire" von Abu Hayyan at-Tauhidi, dem beriihm-
ten Schriftsteller des 4. Jahrhunderts d. H., nach dem man in den
Bibliothekskatalogen vergeblich sucht, wohl in Konstantinopel er-
halten sein miisse. Er stiitzte sich bei dieser Vermutung auf eine
Ankiindigung des Gawa'ib-Verlages, in der eine Ausgabe jenes
Werkes versprochen wurde. Nun ist es aber zu dieser Ausgabe in den
verflossenen 45 Jahren nicht gekommen, und man hat auch sonst
nicht wieder von der Angelegenheit gehort, so dass in der neuen
Auflage der Enzyklopadie der Bearbeiter des Artikels iiber Abu
Hayyan es fur richtig gehalten hat, jenen Hinweis seines Vorgangers
mit Stillschweigen zu iibergehen.

Nun hat aber Professor Minowl im Laufe der Handschriften-
studien, die er wahrend des letzten Winters im Auftrag der Teheraner
Universitat in Istanbul ausfuhrte, in der As'ad Efendi Bibliothek 3542
eine vorziigliche Handschrift jenes Werkes aufgefunden und einen
Mikrofilm davon angefertigt, den er mir zur Veroffentlichung
iiberliess. Ich hoffe, die Edition in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft vorlegen
zu konnen, und mochte mir erlauben, an dieser Stelle einige Prole-
gomena zu der geplanten Ausgabe vorzutragen.

Ein Viertel des Werkes nnden wir bei Yaqut in seinem Irsad, und
zwar in den Artikeln iiber Abu '1-Fath b. al-'Amid, Ibn Abbad, Ibn
Tawaba und Abu Hayyan selbst. An diesen Stellen wird es unter
folgenden Titeln aufgefuhrt: Kitab al-wazlrain, Damm al-wazirain,
Talb al-wazirain und Ahlaq al-wazirain.

Spatere Schriftsteller haben es auch Matalib al-wazirain genannt.
In meinem Text wird keiner von diesen Titeln genannt, vielmehr
heisst das Buch da: Ahlaq as-Sahib wa-'bn al-'Amid li-Abi Hayyan;

246

EIN WERK ABU HAYYANS

247

aber es handelt sich zweifellos um das gleiche Buch, aus dem die
Ausziige von Yaqut stammen.

Es ist 47 Folio stark, und jede Seite hat zwischen 25 und 30
Zeilen, nur eine Seite hat 20 Zeilen. Es ist in altem Nash geschrieben,
das ziemlich klar und gut leserlich ist.

Wenn man den Text mit dem Auszug des Yaqut vergleicht, so
kann man feststellen, dass der letztere viele Verschreibungen auf-
weist. Wie es bei den Biichern dieser Zeit, besonders bei denen von
al-Gahiz, iiblich war, beginnt auch unseres mit einer Anrede an
einen Freund, die etwa folgendermassen lautet: "Du hast Brief auf
Brief geschrieben und mich aufgefordert, einiges iiber Ibn 'Abbad
und Ibn al-'Amid und einige andere Leute, die ich von 350 d. H. bis
jetzt getroffen habe, zu schreiben, weil ich iiber ihre Angelegenheiten
informiert sei und mich iiber ihr Privatleben habe unterrichten
konnen und iiber ihre Geheimnisse Bescheid wisse. Und ich habe in
der Tat diese Kenntnisse aus eigener Anschauung, der Bekanntschaft
mit ihnen und durch Erzahlungen und Informationen ihrer Zech-
genossen." Im folgenden gibt uns der Autor den Grund dafiir an,
dass er in diesem Buch iibertriebene Schmahungen und Schimpfreden
gebraucht habe: das Gefiihl des Zorns habe ihn iiberwaltigt und
durch den Hass konne der Vorhang der Vernunft, so stark er auch
sei, entzweireissen. Dann verteidigt er sich in einem schonen und
glanzenden Stil und fiihrt dazu altere Schriftsteller an, die Schimpf-
reden gegen ihre Feinde geschrieben haben, z. B. al-Gahiz, Abu
'l-'Aina', 'Abdallah b. Dinar, Muhammad b. Mukram und Abu
Hiffan. Und er erwahnt ein Buch von Ibn al-Muqaffa', das einen
Sohn von Sulaiman b. 'AH al-Hasimi getadelt habe, und eine Schrift
Sahl b. Hariins, das die Fehler al-Harranis anprangert.

An Biichern gleichen Inhalts nennt Abu Hayyan noch diese: ein
Buch des Sa'id b. Humaid gegen die Familie des 'Ali b. Hisam, ein
Werk von as-Suli iiber einen Angehorigen der Banu '1-Munaggim,
eine Schrift von Abu 'l-'Abbas Muhammad b. Yazid gegen Hasan b.
Raga', ein Buch von al-'Umari gegen Fadl b. Sahl Du 'r-Riyasatain.

Als Grund fur die Abfassung des vorliegenden Buches nennt
Abu Hayyan die Enttauschung, die ihm Ibn 'Abbad bereitet habe:
lange Zeit habe er an seinem Hofe verkehrt und neun Monate lang
Biicher fur ihn abgeschrieben, und trotzdem habe ihm Ibn 'Abbad
keine Bezahlung zukommen lassen, ja ihn sogar mit Geringschatzung
behandelt. Es sieht so aus, als ob er ihn des Mangels an Beruhmtheit

248 a locust's leg

halber und seines schlechten Aussehens wegen nicht geschatzt habe.
Das wird zwar nicht ausdriicklich gesagt, man kann es jedoch zwischen
den Zeilen lesen.

Der grosste Teil der negativen Dinge, die Abii Hayyan von Ibn
'Abbad berichtet, stammt aus dem Munde der Genossen des letz-
teren, namlich: az-Za'farani, Abu Bakr al-Hwarizmi, al-Musayyibi,
Abu 't-Tlb an-Nasrani, at-Tamiml al-Misri, 'All b. Qasim al-Katib,
al-Halili, Abii 'Ubaid al-Katib an-Nasrani, al-Hat'ami al-Katib, 'AH
b. Hasan al-Katib, al-Aqta' al-Kufi, Ibn az-Zayyat al-Mutakallim,
al-Giluhi, Sad-BasI, Ibn at-Tallag al-Mutakallim, Muhammad b.
al-Marzuban, Abu 's-Salm Nagba b. 'AH, Abu Tahir al-Anmati, Ibn
Faris, al-Guwairi und anderer.

Der andere Teil seiner Nachrichten beruht auf Augenzeugen-
schaft. Was uns bei den Erzahlungen der Genossen des Ibn 'Abbad
in Erstaunen setzt, ist die Tatsache, dass diese vielen verschiedenen
Leute alle im gleichen Stil, ja sogar in Reimprosa redend gezeigt
werden. Das fiihrt zu der Vermutung, dass Abii Hayyan alles selbst
erfunden hat.

Fur diese Meinung spricht auch eine Bemerkung Yaqiits in dem
Artikel iiber Ibn Tawaba al-Katib. Hier erzahlt er, wie Ibn Tawaba
die Geometrie habe erlernen wollen und zu diesem Zweck einen
Geometrielehrer genommen habe. Diese Geschichte sei aber zwei-
fellos unwahr und entweder von Ahmad b. at-Tayyib oder Abu
Hayyan selbst erfunden. Abu Hayyan habe oft dergleichen Dinge
erfunden.

Ein Argument dafiir liefern an einigen Stellen die verschiedenen
Darstellungen der gleichen Begebenheiten.

So erzahlt uns Abii Hayyan folgende zwei Erlebnisse, die auch
in Yaqiits Auszug enthalten sind: "Ich war im Jahre 358 in Rayy und
nachtigte mit anderen (er nennt diese Leute) im Hause des Ibn
'Abbad. Eines Abends sah Ibn 'Abbad bei einer Gesellschaft in
seinem Hause ein unbekanntes Gesicht." Das heisst doch, dass Ibn
'Abbad die iibrigen Leute und damit auch Abii Hayyan kannte. An
einer anderen Stelle jedoch sagt er: "Die Geschichte unserer Bekannt-
schaft ist so: als ich bei ihm weilte, fragte er mich: 'Abii man?' und ich
sagte: 'Abu Hayyan'. " Dann erzahlt er einige Dinge, die zwischen ihm
und Ibn 'Abbad vorgefallen waren und fahrt fort: "Das Ende unserer
Bekanntschaft war so, dass ich mich von ihm im Jahre 370 trennte
und nach Bagdad ohne Lebensmittel und Reittier zuriickkehrte.

EIN WERK ABU HAYYANS

249

Und er hat mir niemals in diesen drei Jahren auch nur einen Dirham
gegeben." Demnach fand seine erste Begegnung mit Ibn 'Abbad
im Jahre 367 statt. Das steht im Widerspruch zum Inhalt der ersten
Erzahlung, wonach Abii Hayyan dem Ibn 'Abbad offenbar schon
im Jahre 358 bekannt war.

Ausserdem kennen wir die Berichte einer Begebenheit bei Abu
Hayyan und Yaqut, der die Kenntnis davon seinerseits wieder von
Hilal b. al-Muhassin hat, den wir als zuverlassigen Berichterstatter
kennen. Da wir aber zwischen beiden Texten grossere Unterschiede
feststellen, scheinen wir auch hier willkiirliche Veranderungen des
Sachverhalts annehmen zu konnen.

Hier kurz der Inhalt beider Texte: zuerst der bei Yaqiit in
seinem Irsad al-arib, Bd. II, Ausgabe 2, Seite 315, aufgezeichnete: Ein
Syrer kommt zu Sahib b. 'Abbad, welcher ihn unter anderen fragt,
wessen Briefsammlungen als Vorbilder am hochsten geschatzt seien.
Der Syrer antwortet: "Die des Ibn 'Abdakan". Dann fragt Ibn
'Abbad, welche die ihr an Wertschatzung folgende sei: "die von
as-Sabi" ist die Antwort. Den Wink eines der Anwesenden, die
Sammlung des Ibn 'Abbad fur die beste zu erklaren, versteht der
Syrer nicht, wohl aber versteht dieses Zeichen Ibn 'Abbad und sagt:
"Du winkst einem Esel, der nicht verstehen kann!"

Abii H a yya n erzahlt ausfiihrlicher und anders: es kommt ein
agyptischer Kaufmann mit Stoffen nach Rayy. Der Sahib ruft ihn zu
sich, kauft etwas von ihm und fragt ihn, fiir welche Kunst oder
Wissenschaft sich die Agypter interessieren und wesser, Briefsamm-
lungen ihnen am liebsten waren. Er antwortet: die Agypter haben an
jeder Kunst und Wissenschaft Anteil, und die Briefsammlung des
Abii Ga'far b. 'Abdakan ist ihnen am liebsten. Nagah, der Diener,
steht dabei und winkt mit Hand, Lippen und Augenbrauen dem
Agypter, auch die Briefsammlung des Sahib zu erwahnen. Aber
dieser versteht nicht. Ibn 'Abbad setzt eine bose Miene auf, ist
enttauscht und geht weg. Einige Tage sparer wiederholt sich die
Geschichte. Da sagt Ibn 'Abbad zu seinem Diener: "Was kannst du
machen, wenn dieser Mann so unverschamt ist?!" Darauf jagte er
den Agypter weg.

Der Teil des Buches, der dem Tadel des Ibn al-'Amid gewidmet
ist, ist der kleinere, aber in gleicher Art verfasst. Bei Ibn al-'Amid
wird uns jedoch nicht gesagt, wie er sich den Hass Abii Hayyans
zugezogen hat.

250 A LOCUST S LEG

Der Stil des ganzen Buches ist zierlich und reizvoll, und man
kann es als das beste seiner Werke ansehen. Es gibt reichliche Infor-
mationen iiber Staatsmanner, Wissenschaftler und Schriftsteller des
4. Jahrhunderts. Ausserdem lehrt -es uns audi die sozialen Zustande
dieser Zeit kennen und wir lesen Abu Hayyans moralische Kritik an
seinen Zeitgenossen. Mit scharfen Worten geisselt er die Sucht
nach schmuckreichen Anredeformen. Er berichtet, dass Abu Hamid
al-Marwamdi feststellt, diese Ubertreibungen seien nur Dummheiten
und hatten ihren Grund in den Minderwertigkeitskomplexen der
Hochgestellten.

Wahnsinn sei der Streit der Theologen, welches Kalifat vorzu-
ziehen und welches Volk das beste sei.

s:;,o&.^;^-'j central utrarf
''v^'j^ Tehran Umtgri"*?

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